the pushouts

2018 Public Good Grant Awardee

Synopsis:

By 15, Victor Rios was a highschool "dropout," heroin dealer and Oakland gang member with multiple felony convictions and a death wish. But when a teacher's quiet persistence, a mentor's moral conviction and his best friend's murder converge, Rios' path took an unexpected turn. Now he studies, advocates for and connects with students whose similiar experiences have led to their being pushed out of school.

Katie Galloway's films explore the intersections of institutional power, civil & human rights and political activism. Her intimate, character-driven feature documentaries THE RETURN (2016), EL POETA (2015), BETTER THIS WORLD (2011) and PRISON TOWN, USA (2007) examine America's criminal justice and mass incarceration systems with a particular focus on the legacies of the drug war and 9/11. A two time Sundance fellow, recent Fledgling Fund Fellow and Filmmaker in Residence at UC Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Program, Galloway has received the Writer's Guild of America's Best Documentary Screenplay Award, Tribeca's Audience Award for Best Documentary, the International Documentary Association's Creative Recognition Award, a Sergio de Mello Humanitarian Award, Best Documentary prizes from San Francisco International and Sarasota Film Festivals and five national Emmy nominations. Her short films have been commissioned by the NYT's Op-Docs series (A RIDE HOME FROM PRISON and THREE STRIKES OF INJUSTICE), Field of Vision (ERIC & ANNA); Mother Jones (THE LIFERS SERIES) and The Marshall Project (HOT CHICKEN, FAIR CHANCE). Galloway has taught documentary production, history and theory at Columbia University (where she also received her Master's in Journalism) and in Media Studies at UC Berkeley, from where she holds a Ph.D. in Political Science with focus on Political Behavior and Public Law.