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Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Documentary and widely celebrated on the HBO hit series America Undercover, I Am A Promise has been applauded by The New York Times as a "strong documentary...unsparing yet tender."
Directed by the innovative, award-winning team of Alan and Susan Raymond (An American Family), I Am A Promise paints an unflinching verité portrait of the children of Stanton Elementary School in North Philadelphia, a troubled inner-city neighborhood where 90% of the students live below the poverty line. As seen through the viewpoint of devoted principal Deanna Burney, who reveals a tireless determination to bring equality and a cheerful climate to learning, the film shows Stanton as grossly under funded, understaffed, and filled with children who have profound emotional and intellectual difficulties. For these at-risk kids, however, the hope for their future survives only in the success of their education.
Astoundingly relevant today, I Am A Promise imparts a poignantly captivating series of vignettes concerning children growing up outside the American dream, echoing current "hot-button" issues in our country's ongoing political discussion.
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