1993, 57 Minutes
Produced & Directed by Susan Todd & Andrew Young
Cinematography by Andrew Young
Sound by Susan Todd
Original score by Ted Kuhn
Music by MC Blvd, Mellow Man Ace
Edited by Jonathan Oppenheim
Executive Producer, Edward James Olmos
Broadcast on NBC, with an introduction by President Clinton

Awards
Best of Classroom
National Educational Film & Video Festival
Golden Apple
National Educational Film & Video Festival
Director's Guild of America Award
Nomination
Official Selection
Sundance Film Festival

 


Gill of the MC Force gang

 

Inmates on the lookout

 


Packin' a piece in East LA

 


Jojo, future gang member?

 


Shakedown

 


On the Yard

 

 


Lives in Hazard is a tough, uncompromising look at kids in gangs and the men they become in prison.

Filmed in the barrios of east LA and in the prisons of California, this real-life drama follows the making of the Hollywood feature film American Me, in which director Edward James Olmos used real gang members and prison inmates as actors.

The fictional scenes these homeboys portray pale in juxtaposition to the stark reality of their daily lives, a world where opportunities are scarce and guns plentiful.

The brutal honesty of these gang members as they struggle to change makes Lives in Hazard a powerful story of kids caught up in a growing national crisis.