On the Ropes (1999)

Directors:
Nanette Burstein, Brett Morgen

IMDB

Synopsis:
The dreams and struggles of three aspiring boxers and the trainer who works with them (at the same Bed-Stuy gym where Mike Tyson used to work out) form the basis of On The Ropes, a documentary that debuted at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Noel Santiago, a one-time gang member, has the skills to be a good boxer, but lacks the conviction to work through the struggles involved. George Walton, a Golden Gloves champ, had his shot at a professional career but lost it at the hands of a crooked manager and is looking for a second chance. Tyrene Manson, a fiercely determined female boxer, sees fighting as her best chance to escape poverty until she's arrested during a drug raid on her uncle's home. And trainer Harry Keitt, a former fighter himself who once sparred with Muhammad Ali, tries to live down a history of alcoholism and a stretch in prison as he walks a fine line between nurturing the talents of the young people he cares for and trying a grab a percentage of the money they could earn as champions.

The Boys of Baraka (2005)

Directors:
Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady

IMDB

Synopsis:
Baltimore, MD, is a city where crime, drugs, and juvenile delinquency have crippled the African-American community, and it has been estimated that as many as 75 percent of African-American males in Baltimore drop out of high school each year. With this in mind, in the '90s a program was created to help at-risk students from Baltimore with academic promise achieve their potential -- 20 young men each year were sent to the Baraka School, a special institution in Kenya. There, students experience a simpler, more rural lifestyle than they would in the city, while at school they are subject to a degree of discipline and academic rigor unknown at home. Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady followed a group of students to the Baraka School, and Boys of Baraka offers a look at the impoverished circumstances the young men left behind, and the ups and downs of their new lives on another continent. Produced in cooperation with PBS, Boys of Baraka received its world premier at the 2005 South by Southwest Film Festival.

Love and Diane (2002)

Director:
Jennifer Dworkin

IMDB

Synopsis:
Jennifer Dworkin taught photography workshops in the New York City shelter system, and that's how she eventually met the subjects of her documentary, Love and Diane. Diane Hazzard is a single mother of six children and a recovering crack addict living in Brooklyn. As the film opens, one of her daughters, Love Hinson, has just given birth to a baby boy, Donyaeh. Love and Diane follows the family's trials over nearly three years, as Diane struggles valiantly to reunite her family and regain the trust of her children. Love, meanwhile, deals with her own history of abuse and her HIV-positive status as she fights to maintain custody of Donyaeh. Love's fitness as a parent is called into question as she grapples with depression, and with her powerful rage at her mother and the world. Diane's efforts to hold her family together after it has been wracked by tragedy are thwarted by a well meaning but inept child welfare system. Donyaeh, meanwhile, grows up a miraculously bright and happy little boy. Dworkin's film was shown at the 2002 Locarno Film Festival, where it shared the Golden Leopard Video prize. It was also selected for the 2002 New York Film Festival.