While playing basketball near his apartment in Southeast D.C. in 1999, documentary filmmaker Davy Rothbart met a teen-ager named Smurf and his little brother, nine-year-old Emmanuel.
Living far from his own family, Rothbart soon became close with the Sanford family, spending holidays together and, after Emmanuel said he was interested in filmmaking, Davy lent him a small hand-held videocamera which he ended up using to film his daily life for the next decade.
When tragedy struck the Sanfords ten years after they first starting shooting home videos, Emmanuel’s mother asked Rothbart to put the footage to use. “So many people are killed by guns in our neighborhood,” she told Davy, “but none have had their entire lives documented as thoroughly as my family.”
The result is “17 Blocks,” a searing documentary that takes place in Hyattsville and D.C. over the course of twenty years and includes a scene at the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department.
The film has already won multiple awards, including “Best Editing in a Documentary Film” at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival (editing by Jennifer Tiexiera) and “Best Feature Documentary” at the 2019 Telluride Mountain film Festival. It’s also received glowing praise from critics, with the New York Times calling it “unshakable,” the Washington Post saying it was “remarkable” and Variety calling it “a singular achievement in documentary filmmaking.”
After its national virtual release last month at nearly 100 theaters around the nation, Rothbart plans to release the film overseas to Europe and South America, reaching an even wider audience.
Rothbart is a bestselling author and journalist, and an Emmy-winning filmmaker who also directed “Medora,” about a high-school basketball team in a small Indiana town, which premiered at the 2013 SXSW and earned an Emmy Award in 2015 after appearing on PBS’ Independent Lens. He also directed two other documentaries about a punk band. Rothbart is a frequent contributor to “This American Life” and co-founded Found Magazine.
The Hyattsville Wire caught up with Rothbart recently to talk about his new film.
What message do you hope people will take away from “17 Blocks”?
We hope to personalize the epidemic of gun violence by putting audiences in the Sanfords’ shoes, giving them a sense for the loss that is felt by a family and a community when someone is taken before their time. The victims are not just statistics — they are human beings with full-fledged lives and loving friends and families.
Gun violence festers in neighborhoods where economic inequality runs deepest. It needs to be treated as the public health emergency that it is. There are proven methods that work to reduce gun violence — better schooling, jobs programs, recreation centers, local grassroots peacekeeping efforts. What’s needed is widespread awareness and political will to allocate resources to support these methods. Our hope is that if people come to care about someone like Emmanuel, they’ll by extension start to care about the hundreds and thousands of lives being lost around the country every year to gun violence, and want to do something to help make a difference.
On a local level, the Sanfords and I have created Washington To Washington, an annual hiking and camping trip for kids from D.C., Detroit, and New Orleans. We’ve seen lifelong transformations happen in one short week, by broadening perspectives and exciting kids about the possibilities in the greater world. The Sanford family and I have brought over 500 D.C.-area kids into nature the past 10 years, all in Emmanuel’s honor.
What was the most surprising response to the film?
We’ve been thrilled that within neighborhoods in Northeast and Southeast D.C., people are saying that the film is resonating with them powerfully and articulating their own experience. And that in neighborhoods far beyond, that people have been so moved by the Sanfords’ journey, even calling Emmanuel a family member, though they’d never met him. We’re grateful for how generous and wholehearted the response has been, and thrilled that Emmanuel’s story can now become an instrument for change. We’re excited to be working with Everytown for Gun Safety and Black Lives Matter D.C. on sharing the film with communities far and wide and Emmanuel’s and the Sanfords’ story moving people to action!
Which scenes from “17 Blocks” were filmed on the Route 1 corridor?
Any scenes with Smurf’s sons, Akil Jr. and Takel. (For example, when they were writing letters to the judge asking for leniency for their dad’s sentence.) The entire Sanford family lived in Hyattsville at times even before I met them in 1999. Over the past decade, Smurf’s sons have lived in Hyattsville with their mom.
To be clear, we believe the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department is where Emmanuel had been scheduled for training to be a firefighter, but not 100 percent certain. He is not listed on their rolls as a cadet but probably because he had been approved as a trainee but not yet begun training. But many firefighters from that station and beyond showed up for his candlelight vigil and funeral.
Anyway, the family has been entwined with Hyattsville and Route 1 corridor for decades, and I certainly spent a lot of time filming with them in these neighborhoods.
What’s your next project? Are you working on another documentary?
I have a few new projects in the works. A new book, a new podcast, and a new film. Hopefully none will take 20 years to complete, like “17 Blocks” did!
Our biggest goal now is our impact campaign, working with Everytown for Gun Safety and Black Lives Matter, D.C to share “17 Blocks” in 1,000 community screenings around the U.S. in the year to come. We’re grateful to people for spreading word about the project to their friends and loved ones all across the country.
To watch the trailer for “17 Blocks,” click here.
To watch the full documentary online click here and/or to make a donation to Washington To Washington click here.
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1 Response to Award-Winning Documentary Filmed in Hyattsville and D.C.