For Ahkeem directors Jeremy Levine and Landon Van Soest spent over three years living and working in the St. Louis area, keenly interested in the school to prison pipeline and the impact it has on poor black and brown children and their families. Black and brown children are increasingly more likely to be put out of school and interact with the criminal justice system than their white counterparts for similar incidents. Enter 17-year old Daje Shelton. Filmed over that same three-year period, this documentary is the coming of age story of Daje, a black teenager facing difficult odds in overcoming a “bad kid” label.
The film opens with Daje and her mother heading to court to learn Daje’s fate after being put out of public school for a fight. Judge Jimmie Edwards, who also happens to run an alternative school, says the only option for Daje to graduate is to attend the court supervised alternative school. After initial resistance and pushback, Daje agrees and attempts to get herself back on track.
Like any kid trying to adjust to new realities, Daje deals with fitting in, getting good grades, love, her relationship with her parents. All that set against a backdrop of poverty, violence, police brutality, and a system set against her and other poor black and brown people. Despite all of this, Daje tries and sometimes falls in her march to graduate and begin to build a better life.
Even with all the larger political, economic and social themes that permeate the film, the directors never lose sight that it is the story of a young woman. The film gives a sense of hope within its dark and seemingly hopeless surroundings. What strikes so powerfully is the resolve of Daje when encountering the violence in her neighborhood and the loss of close friends. There is a numbing normalcy she has, but it also doubles as fuel to want better and avoid a similar fate.
As mentioned Daje does stumble. She becomes pregnant, and decides to keep the baby. This is a setback for her but Ahkeem is the light of her life. There is something special that seemingly happens to and for her by having this baby. There are moments where she is speaking softly to her son, that you see a link between Daje and her mother. In the film and in our conversation Daje alludes to that generational connection. Family. Among the strongest bonds there is.
For Ahkeem is the gripping intimate tale of a young girl’s journey to womanhood and motherhood. In a time where it seems as though poor black and brown people continue to be marginalized and their hope for the “American Dream” seems almost entirely out of reach, this film asks the question, can we do better? Not just by Daje, but the countless others.
The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and I had a chance to sit down with the directors and Daje. See a clip of our interview, where we discuss the school to prison pipeline.
Flip the page to watch my full interview with Jeremy Levine, Daje Shelton and Landon Von Soest.