Raising Bertie

“Recorded over six years, Raising Bertie delivers an authentic and tender portrait of the lives of three young boys as they face a precarious coming of age within Bertie County, a rural African-American community in North Carolina. The film shows the process of growing up in a place afflicted by generations of economic and educational segregation. Growing up in a neighborhood of Bertie that David ‘Bud’ Perry calls ‘the ‘hood,’ Bud has developed a tough exterior, leading to repeated suspensions for fighting and altercations with authority that threaten to derail his dreams of stability and success as an adult. Reginald ‘Junior’ Askew lives in a small home, wedged between fields of corn, with his sister, and their mother – left to care for her children when their father was incarcerated for murder when Junior was three. For Davonte ‘Dada’ Harrell, the youngest of the three, family is everything and the recent separation of his parents weighs heavily on his heart. All three boys attend The Hive, an alternative school for at-risk boys. But, when budget shortfalls lead the Board of Education to close The Hive, Junior, Bud, and Dada must return to Bertie High School and a system that once failed them. This documentary weaves the young men’s stories together as the boys navigate school, unemployment, violence, first love, fatherhood, and estrangement from family members and mentors, all while trying to define their identities. Intimate access allows an honest portrayal of the boys’ perspectives and an in-depth look at issues facing rural America’s youth and what happens in the everyday lives of young people caught in the complex interplay of generational poverty, economic isolation, and educational inequity.” --Container.