Director Rotimi Rainwater knows about being homeless at a young age. His documentary, Lost In America, was a part of the 49th Nashville Film Festival Opening Night festivities, and it’s a heartbreaking doc that spotlights youth homelessness and vitally seeks answers as to why thirteen kids die on the street each day in America.
Rotimi was gracious enough to answer my questions concerning how this incredible journey began and the serious conversation that must start about our country’s kids.
What made you decide to strictly focus on youth homelessness instead of the broader topic of homelessness involving all ages?
It was two-fold. First, I experienced homelessness as a youth, and it is something that has affected me to this day. I knew that I wanted to do something to help those who were going through what I went through. Secondly, it was because homelessness in general is a difficult subject to make people care about. There are too many stigmas that people carry with them, and unfortunately, it’s easier to get people to be sympathetic about a 14-year-old on the streets than a 40-year-old. It’s a shame, but it’s the truth.
How were you all able to find these kids who are willing to share their intimate stories with you?
We had many of the national homeless youth organization behind us. When I had screened Sugar in Washington DC, I screened it for organizations like the National Coalition for the Homeless and others. So, when I decided to do Lost in America, they made phone calls for us to the organizations around the country. This was incredibly valuable since most of these organizations get calls often from people trying to do films, or other projects, and they usually ignore them. But with us, they knew they could trust us. It’s understandable though because their first responsibility is to the youth.
Given your personal experience of being homeless at a young age, were there any specific stories you heard during filming that resonated with you on a deeper level, or was there a connection with every encounter?
I felt a connection with all of these kids because I had been where they were. Now, to be clear, I never could compare my experience to what most of these youths had gone through. It pales in comparison, but what I could relate to, was the rejection that all too often causes homelessness. My family turned their back on me when my mother was sick, and I ended up homeless. I used to sleep in a park across the street from where my grandmother lived and would often wonder if she thought about me or wondered where I was. When I would speak with the youth we would always find this as a common ground for us, this rejection we’d experience. Either from our family, or from those we encountered once on the streets.
We see quite a few familiar faces in the film. Halle Berry, Rosario Dawson and Jewel just to name a few. And obviously they feel very strongly about this issue, but how did their involvement come to be and how critical was it to make them a part of your documentary?
Getting these people with voices louder than our own was the last piece of the film and incredibly important. In today’s climate, there are so many documentaries. In order to stand out, you need these types of voices. We took the film out to our sales agent, and they were very adamant that this was going to help make this film find its audience. We got in touch with these celebrities through one of our executive producers who had a lot of these relationships. It was very important that we didn’t just get a celebrity for celebrity sake; they needed to be authentic in this world. So, we made sure that they had either gone through something like this, or were actively doing something to help these youth.
Your journey seems to begin in 2015 and continue into the Trump administration. So, did the process take longer than expected to get this film complete and in front of an audience?
We actually started filming in November of 2013, so it has been a MUCH longer process than expected. But films like this generally take this long. When telling this story, I didn’t want it to be like many documentaries that are being done, a safe, sterile view of an issue from the outside looking in. It’s almost like going to the zoo: Let’s look at whatever issue it is through the looking glass and be safe. I wanted to tell this story from the inside out, where you truly felt something. When you leave the theater, I don’t want this to be something you could just wash off. The pain and the experience has to be something that sticks with you so that you want to do something about it.
Since screening Lost in America has there been any progress or breakthroughs on the awareness of youth homelessness?
We’re just starting the process now, so there won’t really be any progress for a while. Our goal with the film is to truly start a national conversation and make sure we do something to change things for these youths.
For more information about Lost In America and how you can help, please visit www.lostinamericafilm.com.
**The 49th Nashville Film Festival runs from May 10-19 and can buy tickets here.**
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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