Still Longshots (2007)

• 82%
• 2007
• Documentary
• David Finch
• Maureen Marovitch

Still Longshots follows four at-risk young people through a video-making workshop. Beat, 24, has been off and on the streets since age 13 and is finally trying to leave the dangerous world of dealing drugs for good. Meanwhile, his pal David, 19, finds the quick cash of dealing dope all too alluring. Despite showing talent behind the camera, he drops out of the video workshop to become a downtown "street boss." Dave Z., 23, is a fiercely independent former heroin addict who credits his love for his dog with helping him quit. Edith is 19, on her own, and dealing with her epilepsy. She is in her first apartment after a youth spent in foster homes. Learning to make videos about their lives becomes a creative healing process for these young people. Rounding out the experience is the chance to meet a group of former street kids who did a similar workshop more than a decade earlier. The younger group spends a weekend with Carrie, now 32, who lost custody of her children because of heroin addiction and an abusive partner. Victor, now 35, never left street life - or his alcohol and drug addictions - far behind. Then there are Scott, 36, and Jeanette, 32, who share a son and are both pursuing artistic careers. Over the weekend, surprising, sometimes disturbing parallels emerge between the old and new groups, along with glimmers of hope for the younger ones.