- Welcome to Independent Lens.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
When a filmmaker sets out to make a documentary,
rarely does a director imagine becoming part of a cast.
That is not the case for director James Rutenbeck
in his film, A Reckoning in Boston.
The Clemente Course in Humanities
is a program taught in over 30 cities across the US
to those who have been homeless, incarcerated,
or faced other obstacles to a college degree.
The program focuses
on philosophy, literature, and history
and director Rutenbeck introduces us
to two participants in the program.
Kafi Dixon is a bus driver
trying to create city gardens in vacant Boston lots.
Carl Chandler is a middle-aged man and single parent
who raised four daughters on his own
and eventually became
the primary caregiver to his grandson.
Rutenbeck thought tracking these two participants
given their interesting backgrounds,
and how they responded to the curriculum,
would be enough for an entertaining story
but after several passes in editing bay,
he wasn't quite happy with what he had.
Part of the issue was that
Dixon and Chandler were Black and James Rutenbeck is white.
As the shooting and editing progressed,
Rutenbeck said he felt more and more ill-equipped
to tell their stories and felt arrogant trying to do so.
It was at the urging of his leading lady, Kafi Dixon,
that Rutenbeck entered the film,
putting his own economic and racial privilege on display.
In doing so,
his film that wasn't testing well in front of audiences
became an award winner.
In addition to Rutenbeck making himself a subject,
he made Dixon and Chandler producers,
saying that their contributions to the project
went way above and beyond
tracking progress in the Clemente Course
or just appearing on screen.
They help the film find its voice.
Tonight, James Rutenbeck shows his finished product
to the ultimate test audience.
A reckoning in Boston starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.