Steve Buscemi shines spotlight on inner city gay gang in "Check It"
Steve Buscemi was struck when he first saw the footage that will be turned into the upcoming feature-length documentary, "Check It."
"I thought, 'I'd never seen anything like this. I didn't know that this existed,'" he said.
"Check It" centers on a gay African-American gang struggling to survive in one of Washington D.C.'s most violent neighborhoods. It follows five childhood friends as they claw themselves out of gang-life through an unlikely path: fashion.
The doc's filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer (HBO's "The Nine Lives of Marion Barry") recently launched an Indiegogo campaign to help bring the film to a nationwide audience, while Buscemi's Olive Productions -- the company he heads up with Stanley Tucci and Wren Arthur -- has signed on to help produce the project, alongside Flor and Oppenheimer's Macro Pictures, and RadicalMedia (Justin Wilkes, Dave O'Connor).
"Every once and a while a documentary idea comes our way," Buscemi told CBS News. "We didn't start the company to produce documentaries. I've been involved with a documentary about the fire department that I was in ['A Good Job: Stories of the FDNY']. And an associate of ours, she produced a documentary on a basketball team in the Midwest...But they [Flor and Oppenheimer] told me that they had this footage."
And as soon as he saw it, Buscemi, 57, said he knew "Check It" was something he wanted to get behind.
"I saw how close they [the filmmakers] were to these kids. I can see how much they really cared and that they were in it for the long haul. And we came on board to help it get made," Buscemi said.
The gang, called The Check It, was formed in 2005 by a group of bullied ninth graders in D.C. Imagine boys wearing lipstick and mascara -- even stiletto heels. They carry Louis Vuitton bags, but they also carry knives, brass knuckles and mace, according to the filmmakers. Some have been shot. Others stabbed or raped. A few did jail time. "Check It" tells their stories -- from their time on the streets to their goal to escape gang life.
"These were kids that banded together and were really unafraid of being who they are in public," said Buscemi. "I grew up in an era where it was strictly not cool to be gay. And even now, I forget because I live in New York and we are a much more tolerant city by and large -- although there's still a ways to go before we're totally tolerant -- I forget that in other areas of the country, it's still a big problem if you are gay. And if you act a certain way, it's just looked down upon. And more than that, it's quite dangerous especially in the neighborhood where they live. It's really rough."
"I was really intrigued that these kids were proud of who they were and that they were willing to fight back. And I in no way condone violence," Buscemi continued. "I just thought that it was interesting that their first impulse was to not shrink away but to fight back and I'm more interested in the story of how they can overcome their situation."
Aside from highlighting the world inside an inner city gang, "Check It" showcases how some of these boys have started to turn things around through their love of fashion.
"I'm really interested in the fashion part of the story -- that a lot of these kids are so creative -- if they can come together and form their own fashion line, which they've already been doing. They need support. They need help. And I think it needs to be recognized that this is going on. I think part of the problem is that they don't come from well-to-neighborhoods. And I think that's a problem in any poor neighborhood."
In 2012, for example, in Washington's Ward 8 area -- where many of The Check It live -- had the highest unemployment rate in the country at more than 25 percent. The southeast section of Washington is about four miles from the White House.
Buscemi says the filmmakers want to help these kids (ranging from ages 14-22) get out of their situation and integrate more into the community.
"For some reason, it just does not get coverage," he said. "These problems almost become invisible."
Proceeds from the Indiegogo campaign, which runs through April 4, will pay for the film's post-production costs and resources for the Check It's up-and-coming fashion line.
Go here for more on how to donate and to find out how to get into the "Check It" red carpet premiere.
