Juan, Jarad and Antonio, all young teens, face decades in prison. They're held in a special wing of the lockup reserved for teens who will be standing trial as adults. Also, people who have done enough time in prison age out of violent crime in their thirties and forties. Juan:We are allow[ed] to watch TV, we can have our own [set] in the cell. I really was." Ted Bundy, a good looking, well-educated monster, moved around the country killing at least 30 women in the 1970s, and for a time, he was the most wanted man in Colorado.. Bundy abducted and killed a 23-year old nurse who lived in Aspen. Stay in touch. (SB 260 calls this diminished culpability.). You cant punish trauma out of a child, you have to love it out of them, he says. . Download a copy of Jarad Navas complete handwritten letter. To the system, theyre adults. Read more, Copyright 2023, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. The film follows three juveniles: Juan Gamez, Antonio Hernandez and Jarad Nava. In other words, Lear does not gloss over what Jarad actually did to end up at Sylmar, yet the film questions both his draconian punishment and the way the, system continually punishes low-income, mostly African-American and Latinx kids. 2023 University of Redlands. Love does not conquer all nor is Lear suggesting this. Together, he and the three inmates Juan Gamez, Jarad Nava and Antonio Hernandez (Mr. Hernandez is released partway through the movie) write a screenplay for a short film Mr. Cowan plans to make, inspired by the teenagers lives. SB 260 may have finally passed in California, as well as Prop 57, but most states still impose juvenile life sentences with no chance of parole. Antonio, 14, is the most studious. Their stories are framed by their participation in a screenwriting class taught by Gabriel Cowan, one of the documentarys producers and by the debate among California lawmakers over a bill that would grant young offenders with lengthy terms a chance at parole after 15 years. Directed By. The remark encapsulated the feeling I was left with after observing the film. Do they deserve a second chance? To their advocates, theyre kids. 9.2K Likes, 42 Comments. Cowan had the idea to starta screenwriting class for juvenile offenders after he gave a talk toincarcerated youth while working on another screenplay. On Wednesday, July 12th, Sol Collective hosted a film screening of the Netflix documentary "They Call Us Monsters" The film features three boys, Jarad Nava, Juan Gamez, and Antonio Hernandez, who are all facing life sentences for murder or attempted murder and work together to write a screenplay about their lives before they were incarcerated. We've posted their answers below, and also included the original letters if you'd like to see an authentically handwritten. Cowan conceptualized the idea to teach screenwriting and then produce and shoot a movie from the script the kids wrote. The finished film, Los, can be viewed at http://insideoutwriters.org. Jarads victim describes waking up paralyzed, and the film shows her trying to navigate her apartment in a wheelchair. Juvenile court judges had made that decision. about brain development in teenagers that found the part of the brain that regulates judgment, decision-making and impulse control doesnt fully form until a person is in their 20s. He wrote that he is grateful so many people have embrace[d] our story and join the prison reform movement. While in prison, he is going to college fulltime and making strong grades. Since rehabilitation programs continue to be underfunded, the recidivism rate isnt likely to go down. Written By. Director Ben Lear Stars Allegra Acosta Joel Anderson (archive footage) Richard Bloom (archive footage) TikTok video from Editorial Applehead (@appleheadteam): "Antonio Hernndez, director de "Capitn Trueno y El Santo Grial", recibe el Premio Applehead Sah-Di-A 2023 y nos enva un saludo.". As Lear describes it, nothing could have prepared him for what he encountered once he walked into the prison: this was a classroom full of kids these were teenagers that are so obviously that age. Hernandez was arrested at 14 for two attempted murders, and faced a 90-year life sentence but was granted parole for good behavior during filming since he was still under the age of 18. Wait for a couple of seconds to let the tool find matching parts. The documentary features three juvenile offenders: Juan Gamez, Antonio Hernandez, and Jarad Nava. The proposed bill, SB 260, would allow juveniles to become eligible for parole earlier in their sentencing, after serving at least 15 years. I do not agree. He receives a letter from Jarad. Antonio, Juan and Jarad are enrolled in a 20-week screenwriting course taught by Gabe Cowan, and through clips of their classes and the fictional scenarios they develop, "They Call Us. Directors Ben Lear Starring Jarad Nava, Juan Gamez, Antonio Hernandez Genres Documentary Subtitles English [CC] Toward the end of "They Call Us Monsters," Antonio has been released. Of the three young men it follows, Antonio faces 90 years to life for two attempted murders committed just after he turned 14. To pass the time, they sign up for a screenwriting class and collaborate on a short film about their lives, including Juan's unrequited love for his childhood friend, Abigail. Ive since chosento leave the criminal lifestyle in my past and serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who you are as a teenager is not who you are when you grow up.. The short film, LOS, was written by Juan Gamez, Jarad Nava and Antonio Hernandez. they're kids. , Scott Budnick (The Hangover) who executive produced the They Call Us Monsters as a labor of love. Cowan says that getting the teens to open up to him was a long and sometimes difficult process. "They Call Us Monsters," directed by Ben Lear (Norman Lear's son), might seem like a straightforward advocacy documentary. What is going on in these cities that so many young teens are being charged for gang-related murders? Starring Jarad Nava . Jarad:No because for one police officers manipulate juveniles through coercion to admit to information that they may actually be innocent of. As the boys work with Gabe on their screenplay, their complex stories are revealed. Our news judgments are made independently not based on or influenced by donors. If they weren’t waiting for a trial for a crime they committed, they appear to be typical American Read more. TikTok video from noticias ESA (@noticias.esa): "as de esta manera fue llevado ala justicia y ser presentado ante los tribunales con el fin de que pague con crcel todos los crmenes cometidos/los angelitos que no hacen nada #noticias #PlanControlTerritorial". However we have to give them the opportunity to change the monster in them by teaching them that there is good in every bad situation. The film follows three juvenile offenders: Juan Gamez, Antonio Hernandez and Jarad Nava who signed up for a screenwriting class. 83%. Juan and Jarad were 16 when they were arrested; Antonio was 14. To see the short film, "Los," written by Juan, Jarad, and Antonio, visit InsideOUT Writers. University of Redlands Emergency Alert System, Alert Received: . HD. Cowan conceptualized the idea to teach screenwriting and then produce and shoot a movie from the script the kids wrote. Crime. Juan:Yes, I saw the movie, before release. Stars: Nora Kirkpatrick, Nate Corddry, Ernesto Hernndez, Allegra Acosta, Joel Anderson, Richard Bloom, Steven Fernandez, Ernesto Hernandez, Scott Budnick, Mike Camacho, Antonia Casas R, Yesenia Castro, Gabriel Cowan, Darrell J Edwards Jr, Darrell J Edwards Sr, Juan Gamez, Kath , a new documentary that follows their lives in a Los Angeles juvenile detention center. Are we entirely the result of our environment? What is the value of a life? Arrested at 16, Jarad faces 200 years-to-life for four attempted murders; Juan, also arrested at 16, faces 90-to-life for first-degree murder; Antonio was arrested at 14 and faces 90-to-life for two attempted murders.[4]. It establishes a parole process with different criteria.. Dont loose HOPE and have FAITH, I agree with you 100% Patty. This documentary, directed by Ben Lear (the son of legendary TV producer Norman Lear), is one of the few I have seen to . Read the Notice of Nondiscrimination here. They seem like typical American teenagers if they . Buy $12.99. Though not everyone would be lucky enough to benefit from this process a whole other story some people who were serving life sentences for offenses they had committed as youths suddenly found themselves eligible for release. By 2010, about 250,000 teens were being prosecuted in adult courts every year, according to the Campaign for Youth Justice, which opposes the practice. The prison has a channel in which they play some of the new movies coming outso we watch about everything and anything that tells a good story. Cast and crew Ben Lear Director Jarad Nava Juan Gamez Antonio Hernandez Darrell Edwards Additional information Directors Ben Lear Studio The Orchard Subtitles English (CC) Released year 2017 Duration 1 h 21 min Genres Documentary Foreign/Independent Size 4.67 GB (1080p HD) 2.18 GB (720p HD) 1.65 GB (SD) The proposed bill. To their victims, they're monsters. Year. The plot emerged when the teens were talking about their fears. Theyre held in a special wing of the lockup reserved for teens who will be standing trial as adults. Im guessing people probably think were still in the same mindset, and doing the same stuff. "They Call Us Monsters," directed by Ben Lear (Norman Lear's son), might seem like a straightforward advocacy documentary. Theres not only capacity for change, theres also that oft-forgotten glimmer of a thing called hope. StarringJarad Nava Juan Gamez Antonio Hernandez Darrell Edwards Allegra Acosta Joel Anderson Richard Bloom Nate Corddry Even if he appears remorseless, there seems to be a softness there, or maybe just a deep need for approval. Maybe that journey toward remorse and responsibility is different for everyone. Emily Jordan is a YA writer living in New York City. Available on iTunes Legislators debate legislation that allows for adult charges for juvenile offenders. Juan, Jarad and Antonio, all young teens, face decades in prison. The Los Angeles Film Festivalruns June 1-9, 2016. The kids needing to find monies for their families. Do they deserve a second chance? He asks them to write down five things they fear. 7.0 1 h 21 min 2016 X-Ray 16+. A scene in which Juan calls a girl he had a crush on, while a listening staff member roots for him, provides the films most oddly affecting moment. Learhad been visiting "The Compound," a high-security facility where Los Angeles houses its most violent juvenile criminals. 1.7K Likes, 32 Comments. That says a lot.. Still a teacher for InsideOUT, he has abandoned the Hollywood bromance in favor of Good Films, his new feature-film company whose mission is to tell stories with racial and social-justice themes. Theyre held in a special wing of the lockup reserved for teens who will be standing trial as adults. They found him along the 4000 block of Green Tree Drive Wednesday and took him into custody. But because you do not know who they will turn out to be when they are 25, 26 or 27, I feel as a society that we do have the obligation to provide them an opportunity to earn a second chance, based on that fact.. Anyone can read what you share. (SB 260 calls this diminished culpability.), Obviously, there are no easy answers. The film follows three young offenders who sign up to take a screenwriting class with producer Gabe Cowan as they await their respective trials. As the film reveals, in the last four years, the state has passed bills to decrease juvenile sentencing a move that re-sparked a national debate over the very nature of these violent juvenile offenders. To some, they're kids. This is precisely the case of the three main subjects of Lears documentary. "They Call Us Monsters," a film by Norman Lear's son Ben Lear, was released earlier this year and became available on Netflix in late May. When California advocates began pushing to scale back punishments for offenders like those in his film, Lear said, it seemed hopeless. The juvenile justice system was created to rehabilitate, not to be punitive but it became a punitive system where the kids are getting punished for their trauma.. Recidivism, understood as a persons relapse into criminal behavior, often after the person receives sanctions or undergoes intervention for a previous crime, is a key statistic that tells lawmakers and law enforcement how likely those who have gone through the system are likely to find themselves back into it. Ya disponible en todas las plataformas digitales junto, as de esta manera fue llevado ala justicia y ser presentado ante los tribunales con el fin de que pague con crcel todos los crmenes cometidos/los angelitos que no hacen nada. Juan:Yeah, Jarad and I were tripping out on how many times we came out shaking hands. Without affect, the girl asks if hes in a detention center. 1091 Media. And in 2016, state voters approved a ballot measure that takes the decision on whether a teen should stand trial as an adult away from prosecutors and puts it in the hands of a juvenile court judge. , would allow juveniles to become eligible for parole earlier in their sentencing, after serving at least 15 years. Sitting in his white undershirt, he tries to reconcile the number of years Jarad still has left on his sentence: 162. Since the documentary was produced in 2013, the initial parole bill, SB 230, passed, along with other bills that decrease juvenile sentencing. He approached fellow InsideOUT board member and founder of The Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Scott Budnick (The Hangover) who executive produced the They Call Us Monsters as a labor of love. (alumni participate in group gatherings called Writing Circles, where young people come together to share their work and talk). ok my sons were murdered, but the killers are children, so they deserve to be treated differently? 88 Likes, TikTok video from Elena2widdit (@elena2widdit): "#theycallusthemonsters #stevenfernandez #TurboTaxAndRelax #fyp". I cant think of anything specific other than Im grateful so many people have embrace[d] our story and joined the prison reform movement (one way or the other). So most of the time, its easier for them to just be kids when theyre locked up.. Focused on the specific stories of Jarad, Antonio, and Juan, the latter two exemplifying the large Latinopopulation that often finds itself behind bars, the project shows us how a screenwriting class allows these boys to think back to what drove them to where they are currently. Juan Gamez, Antonio Hernandez and Jarad Nava are the youthful offenders at the heart of "They Call Us Monsters," a new documentary that follows their lives in a Los Angeles juvenile detention center. At times Jarad, who faces 200 years for four attempted murders, demonstrates an almost dissociative denial that borders on sociopathic. PBS Independent Lens airs the film on Monday, May 22. Antonio, a methamphetamine addict, recounts seeing a man shot to death in front of him when he was 8, but insists hes not traumatized: I guess you do kind of get used to it. And when he was 12, Jarad found his stepfather trying to stab himself to death an unsuccessful attempt that nonetheless resulted in the breakup of his family. In this movie, creator Ben Lear sheds valuable insight into the world of juveniles with life sentences. You have to turn your life around to get parole. . They Call US Monsters Where Are They Now? Reviews for January 20th, 2017 Documentary Round-Up. (Haha) Just kidding.. To pass the time, they sign up for a screenwriting class and collaborate on a short film about their lives, including Juan's unrequited love for his childhood friend, Abigail. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. As They Call Us Monsters hopes to broaden the conversation on juvenile offenders, here are five eye-opening facts we learned from watching Lears documentary. Juan:Man, theres so many things the audience dont get to see, especially the fact that Im grown now. While in the courthouse representing himself for the hearing about her murder, he asked the judge if he could use the law . They are lively, tattooed gangbanger street-wise kids, who show no remorse for their crimes. The law went into effect January 1, 2014. By 2010, about. Antonio could care less. Thats why you need programs like InsideOUT and college., In the fifth writing class, Cowan introduces the topic of character motivation, telling the kids that conflict and fear are essential in driving plot. Juans older brother drew him into gang life as a child in their native El Salvador, before they moved to California. If everyone who reads our reporting helps to pay for it, our future would be much more secure. He went as research for a script, expecting to meet the kind of scary characters hed seen in the movies but instead, he found a classroom full of kids., That inspired him to make the documentary, which uses a montage of news reports to illustrate the late 20th century spike in juvenile crime and the punitive response that followed a broad expansion in the offenses and ages for which a teen could stand trial as an adult. All three boys have children. To their advocates, they're kids. Jarad Nava and Antonio Hernandez (Hernandez is released partway . We see excerpts from the result. ", "THEY CALL US MONSTERS Premieres on PBS' Independent Lens 5/22", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=They_Call_Us_Monsters&oldid=1108017152, This page was last edited on 2 September 2022, at 03:33. I used laughter as a mask to shield myself and others [from] my reality. From the film, I learned many juveniles convicted of serious crimes are tried as adults and kept in a separate compound. The miscreants alluded to in the title of the documentary "They Call Us Monsters" are a trio of teenage boys, incarcerated in a California juvenile detention facility for charges ranging. Powerful new documentary 'They Call Us Monsters' follows three teen boys who face life sentences for their violent crimes. Help bring programs like Independent Lens to your PBS station. You can see them hugging, you can see they felt a lot of success together, they went through a real experience together.. Their convictions range from charges of attempted murder to first degree murder, and slowly each boys character and the story of how he ended up in the compound is revealed. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. Three young violent offenders learn screenwriting in one of LA's high-security detention centers. They Call Us Monsters is a 2016 American documentary directed and produced by Ben Lear. As a 16-year-old boy facing 90 years to life for first-degree murder, he seems to float somewhere above or below this fact, as do Antonio Hernandez and Jarad Nava, the other teenage boys awaiting similar sentences in Ben Lears moving documentary, They Call Us Monsters, a film that connects a 20-week screenwriting class inside Sylmar, a segregated unit for juveniles being tried as adults, with the passing of SB 260, legislation that grants youth serving life sentences the possibility of parole. Antonio Hernandez & Omar Montes 01:00 220 They Call Me Monster Mike Monster Mike Welch 01:00 1 What They Call Us? As any parent, teacher or person who has worked with teens will tell you, teenagers are impulsive. This doc examines how minors are regarded in the justice system. The 2016 released documentary inspects the experience of three juvenile prisoners facing life time imprisonment in Los Angeles Juvenile Detention Centre. Of course, aging out of crime and violence can also be offset by a prison culture that doesnt allow you to change. Before watching They Call Us Monsters, I knew little to nothing about the issue of justice for juveniles under California Senate Bill 260, a law that went into effect in 2014 that gives a second chance to most people who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crime. That borders on sociopathic and produced by Ben Lear sheds valuable insight into the of. 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