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INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR LESLIE NEALE
Why did you make the film? What brought
you to the subject?
I had done another filmed called Road to
Return, about ex-offenders re-entering society
and the need for after care in our country.
And there was a nun that had seen that film
and decided that she'd like to invite me down
to Juvenile Hall to look at a writing program
she had.
The next few days I could not eat or sleep. It was painful and unimaginable that these children were not wanted by anyone; nobody was looking for them. This was a shock to me.
So, I went to this program, and sat in a class
with about twelve young men -- ages like
fourteen to sixteen - who were all headed to
state prison. And a couple of them had
already become fathers. And most had been
victims themselves. And yet they were
expressing themselves with such eloquence
and such honesty and depth that I felt like,
Oh my God, would I love to do the same thing
with cameras. So Sister Janet said, Come in
and teach a class. And that's what happened.
I went in to teach camera production to kids.
And I said, Well, give me the kids that are
going to be there the longest which included
the high risk offenders, HROs - the kids that
are being tried as adults. And, it began from
there. I taught them how to interview. I
taught them how to set up a shot, how to tell
a story with shots. And then I would go home
and edit it.
And we ended up with a little trailer which we
started showing around Juvenile Hall. And
the teachers and the school thought that was
great. But the higher up the food chain we
got - meaning the higher we climbed up
probation - the authorities became
concerned. And they shut me down. They
said, You cannot film these kids anymore.
Well, by that time I had already made a
commitment to that class. So actually the
first class I taught, I have very little footage
on. But I stayed with them. And it took
about a year to petition the courts to get the
right to go ahead and make the film.
What was the reason they gave?
I think they were afraid of the light in which
they would be reflected - meaning, was I going
to do an expose on the system? And I kept
saying, No, I just want these kids to have a
vehicle to tell their stories of what's going on,
about being tried as an adult.
I mean, I couldn't believe - I remember when I
met Duc Ta. I said, So what are you in here
for? What are you facing? And he goes, I'm
facing a hundred and forty years to life. And I
said, For what? How many heads did you
chop off? And he said, Nobody was hurt in
my crime. And I'm like, Oh come on. And I
never believed him. You know, I kept saying,
You're gonna walk. You're gonna go out.
You're gonna be free. And when I went to his
trial, I couldn't believe he got thirty-five years
to life and nobody was hurt.
Incredible. Was it difficult getting him and the
others to open up?
Well, they trusted me to tell their stories, but
it was hard for them. You know, they did not
want to talk about the abuse. They did not
want the world to know about this.
I went to film school and was taught to always
maintain an objective line, like for example,
you never get that close to your subjects. And
I believe that you can't help but get close to
your subjects and that you have a certain
moral obligation to them. As a matter of fact,
I'm still in contact with all of the subjects and
will continue to be. That's been my deal with
them. You know, we're friends. I mean, I
don't see how a filmmaker can come in and
say, you know, Okay, open up your life to me
- and then when the film is done, See you
later. And I know it happens. As a matter of fact, I
think the reason I adopt this view is one of the
first questions the kids asked me in that first
class which was, When are you leaving? And
I said, What do you mean? And they said,
Well, we know when your grant money is up
you're going to be out of here. And I said,
Well, I'm not here on a grant. I'm here on my
own dime. And I'm down here to volunteer.
And that taught me, don't ever walk away
from these kids. I just went to see one of
them two weeks ago -- the little African-
American girl in the film, Sandra.
Did you ever find yourself having to turn the
camera off because something felt too private?
Some of the things that they shared with
me about their personal lives, I always asked
permission. And if I did not have their permission I did not put it in. Because when you put people up there on a
screen, it's a huge responsibility, I think, and
a big risk - especially when we're dealing with
people in the criminal justice system.
Because these kids, they're not out there in
the real world. They're dealing with a whole
different set of rules now. And it's deadly. It's
a deadly system.
Is there hope for changing some of these laws?
I do believe there's hope. I believe that
politicians are just acting on the public's
behalf. I mean, clearly they're motivated by
their own personal political aspirations. But
if the majority of the public doesn't stand up
and say, Enough is enough, they're not going
to change anything. So, first and foremost, I
think a film like Juvies is illuminating the
problem. And that's what I kept saying as I
was making it. I mean, I kept saying, you
know, we're pulling back the curtain about
what's really going on.
And one of my most motivating factors after I
went in to start teaching these kids was, you
know, I was going to my little cocktail parties
in my rich tony neighborhood and telling
people about this one little girl who's facing
two hundred years to life and she wasn't even
at the crime. And people were like, What?
Their first question would be, In America?
And I'd go, Yeah. And they'd go, In
California? You know, liberal California? And
I'd go, Yeah. Now, this is happening in all fifty
states; it's rampant and just starting to get
attention. We did get legislation written,
based on Juvies. And one of the bills passed
the House and the Senate here in California,
but Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed it.
So, to answer your question, I mean, will it
change? I think ultimately the more
information we get out there the better in
terms of how this is affecting all of society.
How long did you shoot for?
Five years. Because, you have to understand,
that, I had one class and got shut down. But
I stayed teaching. I stayed with these kids. I
was no longer allowed to run a video camera
on them. But I stayed with them. And then
they all got sentenced and sent to prison.
And then I started another class when I had
permission by the courts to actually put kids
on camera. And I just think it's really ironic
that it's perfectly permissible to send a
fourteen year old to adult prison but don't try
and photograph them.
It's a little bit like not showing any of the
bodies coming back from Iraq.
Exactly. I mean, in fact, who are we protecting
here? Every single class, every single kid I
ever worked with was convicted and sent to
adult prison; every one of them. And their
crimes ranged from all different kinds of
felonies. So I waited for those kids to be in
prison for a year before I followed up with
them. That's one of the reasons why it took
so long.
So I think it's a matter of putting product out
there that tells their stories. And then the
public starts to become aware. Seventy per
cent of the population now says we want
rehabilitation back in our prison system here
in California. But that's probably because
over seventy per cent of the public said,
"What? You're incarcerating people without
rehabilitating them?" So hopefully movies like
Juvies will help spread awareness that will
ultimately bring about change. That's all we
can hope for.
FILMMAKER BIO: Juvies marks an impressive debut for actor/director Leslie Neale, who was nominated for a 2004 International Documentary Association Award for Feature Documentary.
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