antonio hernandez they call us monsters
Their convictions range from charges of attempted murder to first degree murder, and slowly each boys character and the story of how he ended up in the compound is revealed. And, I understand theyre just trying to keep the peace in the communities, which is real good, but I do feel that our youth has so much more potential and should be deal[t] with differently.. Whats going on inside these households, schools, and streets? The film follows three juvenile offenders: Juan Gamez, Antonio Hernandez and Jarad Nava who signed up for a screenwriting class . To the system, they're adults. What TV and movies do you watch in there? Thats whendirector Ben Learknew he had a film to make. To the system, theyre adults. All rights reserved. ", Jarad: I dont like snakes, theres a fear of heights, Im not scared of heights, but theres a fear. (SB 260 calls this diminished culpability.), Obviously, there are no easy answers. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. The teenage girl Jarad shot is paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Gabriel Cowan teaches a screenwriting class to juvenile offenders at The Compound. Year. Learhad been visiting "The Compound," a high-security facility where Los Angeles houses its most violent juvenile criminals. They Call Us Monsters. What other stories would you like to tell in film or writing? I definitely believe teens that see unforeseen trauma in there childhood should certainly be given a serious second chance, their brains are not fully developed. that, according to Budnick, Cowan, Lear and other prison-reform policy advocates, differentiates the young person from the adult. His statement, I was a monster, I really was, is the crux of the film: he joined a gang before his thirteenth birthday to emulate his brother. Jarad makes a joke of it, but Antonio says, Trust, fear of vulnerability, fear of public speaking and fear of being alone. Juan says, Fear of death, loneliness, darkness and love., The love story is the heart of the film, Lear says. Jarad and Juan are currently serving the remainder of their sentence at Ironwood state prison. Sitting in his white undershirt, he tries to reconcile the number of years Jarad. Jarad Nava and Antonio Hernandez (Hernandez is released partway . Another important area centers on the cognitive development and decision-making ability of minors in dangerous home environments. Im two semesters away from obtaining an AA in Business & Technology. To their victims, they're monsters. And thats part of what I think works so well with these art programs. Our news judgments are made independently not based on or influenced by donors. The problem could be stopped before it reaches this how does a teen get a gun is never questioned. 35 Likes, TikTok video from Antonio Hernnde4490 (@antoniohernandez0220). The proposed bill, SB 260, would allow juveniles to become eligible for parole earlier in their sentencing, after serving at least 15 years. Antonio, a methamphetamine addict, recounts seeing a man shot to death in front of him when he was 8, but insists hes not traumatized: I guess you do kind of get used to it. And when he was 12, Jarad found his stepfather trying to stab himself to death an unsuccessful attempt that nonetheless resulted in the breakup of his family. With powerful subject matter and masterful conceptualization, the film was captivating, each scene leaving me eager to find out how the story and those featured in it would develop. I so support these boys and hope they dont have to spend there years stuck for a stupid mistake they now regret Three kids facing life in prison. Help bring programs like Independent Lens to your PBS station. You have to love it out of them, Cowan says. Later, he calls Abby and uses Los as a script to narrate the depth of his feelings. TikTok video from noticias ESA (@noticias.esa): "as de esta manera fue llevado ala justicia y ser presentado ante los tribunales con el fin de que pague con crcel todos los crmenes cometidos/los angelitos que no hacen nada #noticias #PlanControlTerritorial". Ive since chosento leave the criminal lifestyle in my past and serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. News and Views from the University of Redlands, Read the Notice of Nondiscrimination here. Juvenile court judges had made that decision. This means these kids could get a second chance. To their advocates, theyre kids. 1.7K Likes, TikTok video from antonio hernandez (@antonio_hernandezzz): "#fyp #foryou #foryoupage #trending #viral #foru #fyp". Sorry your mother did what she did to you, it seems you are better off, Im sure it still hurts. It wasnt a direct line, it was a process that had zigzaggy lines. were being prosecuted in adult courts every year, according to the Campaign for Youth Justice, which opposes the practice. They Call US Monsters Where Are They Now? Antonio Hernnde4490 (@antoniohernandez0220)s videos with sonido original - Antonio Hernnde4490 | TikTok. . 14 deaths from dangerous dog breeds. Watching this documentary would lead one to realize that the society plays an important role in the prevention of juvenile delinquency. But because you do not know who they will turn out to be when they are 25, 26 or 27, I feel as a society that we do have the obligation to provide them an opportunity to earn a second chance, based on that fact.. Do they deserve a second chance? To pass the time, they sign up for a screenwriting class and collaborate on a short film about their lives, including . Jarad:No because for one police officers manipulate juveniles through coercion to admit to information that they may actually be innocent of. Cowan says that getting the teens to open up to him was a long and sometimes difficult process. He receives a letter from Jarad. INDEPENDENT LENS: THEY CALL US MONSTERS 10 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). Hernandez was arrested at 14 for two attempted murders, and faced a 90-year life sentence but was granted parole for good behavior during filming since he was still under the age of 18. His answer Yes, but inside the jail is another jail articulates the Sartre-esqe morass of life inside a broken system, as do the ubiquitous signs on the walls that read "NO! When he heard about the bill, he joined forces with screenwriter Gabriel Cowan to produce the documentary "They Call Us Monsters.". We incorporated that experience, the experience of telling someone you love them and how scary that is," says Cowan. Our organization retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. Antonio was being charged for 2 attempted murders and facing 90 years to life. Juan tells Cowan and his classmates how he was going to give the real Abby a poem but he never got the chance. Over the course of the two years that Lear (son of TV writer and producer Norman Lear) spent filming They Call Us Monsters, SB 260, the juvenile parole bill, went into effect in California. Jarads victim describes waking up paralyzed, and the film shows her trying to navigate her apartment in a wheelchair. The film was written in an InsideOUT Writers class taught by Gabriel Cowan which is featured in the documentary THEY CALL US MONSTERS directed by Ben Lear. Over the course of a few months, Lear filmed Cowan working with three teenagers -- Juan Gamez, Jarad Nava and Antonio Hernandez -- who were awaiting trial, some facing sentences more than 100 years long. It is our responsibility to help the youth that want help. He wrote that he is grateful so many people have embrace[d] our story and join the prison reform movement. While in prison, he is going to college fulltime and making strong grades. Categories Trending Tags They Call Us Monsters Leave a comment. They Call Us Monsters doesnt shy from the consequences of the violence the prisoners were accused of (we meet a paralyzed victim of a shooting), even as it suggests that the system from a state senator who warns of mini-Charlie Mansons to lawyers resigned to stiff sentences proceeds almost mechanically. Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. As a 16-year-old boy facing 90 years to life for first-degree murder, he seems to float somewhere above or below this fact, as do Antonio Hernandez and Jarad Nava, the other teenage boys awaiting similar sentences in Ben Lears moving documentary, They Call Us Monsters, a film that connects a 20-week screenwriting class inside Sylmar, a segregated unit for juveniles being tried as adults, with the passing of SB 260, legislation that grants youth serving life sentences the possibility of parole. [Antonio was advised by his lawyer to decline a follow-up interview.] 83%. https://redlandsalert.com/. He approached fellow InsideOUT board member and founder of The Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Scott Budnick (The Hangover) who executive produced the They Call Us Monsters as a labor of love. But the movie benefits from an added layer: A screenwriting teacher who gets to know three teenagers awaiting trial. Moved by his friends predicament, he says that he wants to become successful for him. In California, juveniles between the ages of 14 and 17 can be tried as adults and receive sentences longer than their natural life expectancy. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. A producer took me to juvenile hall. Tru 01:00 6 Calling All The Monsters Jessica Jean 00:30 2168 A Monster Calls Read Hersh 01:00 10 A Monster Calls Clarity 01:00 0 You Call Us Monsters Benjamin Wallfisch 00:30 0 Thriii 01:00 2409 They Call Me Tiago (Her Name Is Margo) This is true for Juan as well, who has a 90-year sentence. Instead of facing my life I numbed myself to it and behaved immaturely.. Id love to come and speak to these kids at the possibilitys they can have The teenage girl Jarad shot is paralyzed and in a wheelchair. CC. Doing the numbers it appears that a child age 0-9 is 15x more likely to be killed by an aggressive dog breed than a firearm (excluding homicides). Documentary 2017 1 hr 21 min iTunes. He went as research for a script, expecting to meet the kind of scary characters hed seen in the movies but instead, he found a classroom full of kids., That inspired him to make the documentary, which uses a montage of news reports to illustrate the late 20th century spike in juvenile crime and the punitive response that followed a broad expansion in the offenses and ages for which a teen could stand trial as an adult. To the system, theyre adults. Toward the end of "They Call Us Monsters," Antonio has been released. To the system, they're adults. Granted time should be done, but if prison is for rehabilitation and you give a sixteen-year-old 40 years to life, after 10 years hes truly changed, you still keep him inside. Of course, aging out of crime and violence can also be offset by a prison culture that doesnt allow you to change. From the film, I learned many juveniles convicted of serious crimes are tried as adults and kept in a separate compound. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/movies/they-call-us-monsters-review.html. You have to turn your life around to get parole. Juan Gamez, Antonio Hernandez and Jarad Nava are the youthful offenders at the heart of They Call Us Monsters, a new documentary that follows their lives in a Los Angeles juvenile detention center. Antonio Hernandez, and Jarad Nava. It establishes a parole process with different criteria.. While the gravity of their crimes is great, these young men are still simply teenagers. Maybe it takes 10 years. Be more independent. To some, they're kids. The first individual we come across is Antonio, who was arrested at the age of 14-years-old. Download a copy of Juan Gamezs complete handwritten letter. To others, they're monsters. Who Creates the Dragons Brave Knights must Slay? Review: They Call Us Monsters, but Do We Deserve Life Sentences? Back in 2013, California was debating whether to give teenagers who committed violent crimes a second chance. They seem like typical American teenagers if they . Juan Gamez, Antonio Hernandez, and Jarad Nava. That inspired him to make the documentary, which uses a montage of news reports to illustrate the late 20th century spike in juvenile crime and the punitive response that followed a broad expansion in the offenses and ages for which a teen could stand trial as an adult. Juan, Jarad and Antonio, all between 14 and 16, face decades in prison. Its protagonist, an amalgam of Jarad, Antonio and Juan, is played by a small and fresh-faced boy, a perfect casting choice that conveys the boys actual youth, that is, if it hadnt been cut short by gang violence, poverty, and an unjust system. While in the courthouse representing himself for the hearing about her murder, he asked the judge if he could use the law . All three boys have children. Change is possible but forgiveness is needed.. To their victims, they're monsters. By 2010, about. Their stories are framed by their participation in a screenwriting class taught by Gabriel Cowan, one of the documentarys producers and by the debate among California lawmakers over a bill that would grant young offenders with lengthy terms a chance at parole after 15 years. After watching the documentary They Call Us Monsters at the University of Redlands Orton Center last Thursday, I was left with these questions. And, even if he is released, Juan faces deportation and separation from his family, including his infant son. Crime. On Wednesday, July 12th, Sol Collective hosted a film screening of the Netflix documentary "They Call Us Monsters" The film features three boys, Jarad Nava, Juan Gamez, and Antonio Hernandez, who are all facing life sentences for murder or attempted murder and work together to write a screenplay about their lives before they were incarcerated. Their parents grew up in identical conditions before them and know nothing of survival in an "acceptable" way because they have NEVER been given instruction. Watch on. There are currently no airings of They Call Us Monsters. But if studies prove a juveniles brain is not fully developed why would you give him more time in prison than hes lived. Summary. whose mission is both to use creative writing as a catalyst for personal transformation and to reduce the juvenile recidivism rate by providing services for formerly incarcerated youth. In Jarads case, he'll likelycome up for parole in 20-25 years, instead of the 80 or 90 years he would have had with a 160-year sentence. Premiered May 22, 2017 Directed by Ben Lear Three young violent offenders learn screenwriting in one of LA's high-security detention centers. Since the documentary was produced in 2013, the initial parole bill, SB 230, passed, along with other bills that decrease juvenile sentencing. Juan: I dont want to say the law is unfair, but rather the people passing certain laws are quick to make decisions like throwing you in prison and throwing away the key without even giving you a chance (sometimes). The short film, LOS, was written by Juan Gamez, Jarad Nava and Antonio Hernandez. The University of Redlands does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, I have worked in the juvenile system for 20 years. Ben Lear. Juan:Man, theres so many things the audience dont get to see, especially the fact that Im grown now. Lear's documentary follows three boys living in such a compound who signed up for a screenwriting class: Antonio Hernandez, Jarad Nava, and Juan Gamez. The remark encapsulated the feeling I was left with after observing the film. Even if he appears remorseless, there seems to be a softness there, or maybe just a deep need for approval. All rights reserved. They Call Us Monsters A Documentary Film Review 'The Call Us Monsters' is a documentary film in which the filmmakers are granted access to the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar California. Watch They Call us Monsters 2016 full Movie free, download they call us monsters 2016. Log in to follow creators, like videos, and view comments. He was booked on . TikTok video from Editorial Applehead (@appleheadteam): "Antonio Hernndez, director de "Capitn Trueno y El Santo Grial", recibe el Premio Applehead Sah-Di-A 2023 y nos enva un saludo.". They're held in a special wing of the lockup reserved for teens who will be standing trial as adults. Juan and Jarad were 16 when they were arrested; Antonio was 14. The juvenile justice system was created to rehabilitate, not to be punitive but it became a punitive system where the kids are getting punished for their trauma.. Still a teacher for InsideOUT, he has abandoned the Hollywood bromance in favor of Good Films, his new feature-film company whose mission is to tell stories with racial and social-justice themes. These are young men who will be tried as adults for violent crimes and face decades, if not hundreds of years in adult jails. Encouraged by Cowan and his classmates, Juan ended up calling his 10 year-old crush inside the jail. To pass the time, they sign up for a screenwriting class and collaborate on a short film about their lives, including Juan's unrequited love for his childhood friend, Abigail. Justice is not to seek retribution or eye for an eye, but there were homicides what they did and must pay in that sense. One week they would open up and trust me, and another week they would be joking around and sort of making me the villain., Cowan gave the teensliberty to choose what they wanted their film to be about. But we did hear back from Juan Gamez and Jarad Nava, both of whom are currently serving life sentences. (SB 260 calls this diminished culpability.). The documentary might gain from longer-term or return treatment, particularly now that a California bill offering early parole hearings, under consideration for much of the films running time (and shown passing in 2013), has taken effect. 2017. Prior to his imprisonment, Antonio was an honor roll student and he seemed like the perfect student up until his arrest. It still hurts the fact that Im grown now watch they Call Us Monsters 2016 full free... News judgments are made independently not based on or influenced by donors teens to open up him... Actually be innocent of roll student and he seemed like the perfect up... Log in to follow creators, like videos, and Jarad Nava, both of whom currently... And view comments PBS ( check local listings ) young men are still simply teenagers juveniles coercion. 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