Character profiles of key people in the film

Lateefah, age 24, is the Director of the Center for Young Women's Development. She tells the girls, "Honestly, there are two tracks people want to put us on: the bus to Prison, or flippin' patties at Burger King. Statistics say half of us will be in prison in 3 years." Over the course of the film, Lateefah is challenged by the problems the girls bring to the Center: substance abuse, domestic violence, and homelessness. What boundaries must she set if she is to encourage and continue to employ young women whose often chaotic lives impose upon their work?

Sheila, age 17, stands outside her cinder block unit in the projects. She hands her brother a few dollars. One of eight children of parents on SSI, Sheila has been in and out of Juvenile Hall since age 12. "I'm the only one in my family that's working, and I only work 20 hours a week at the Center," Sheila explains. "That's not enough to survive on, so I... did what I had to do." Lateefah doesn't know what to do when Sheila's observed selling drugs. In early 2001, the Housing Authority begins proceedings to evict her family after a visiting brother is caught with a gun. With financial pressures mounting, will Sheila be able to stay out of trouble and continue working at the Center?
Jessica, age 19, is the Center's Deputy Director. She spent most of her teen years locked up. After shoplifting once at the age of 13, she was placed on probation. She was never convicted of another charge, but was continually reincarcerated for violations of probation such as drinking and cutting school. During filming, she gets married, has a baby, buys a home, and is appointed as the first youth representative to the Juvenile Justice Commission. She wants to go to college but only has a 7th grade education. How can she balance her desire for growth with her need to support her family, and maintain her home?

Stephanie, age 16, mother of an infant, shows up for work at the Center with a black eye and deep scratches on her neck. The girls urge her to go to the doctor. She replies, "I can't see a doctor. I got a warrant. If I go... they'll call the police... Where am I supposed to go for help if they're just gonna lock me up and take my baby away?" Stephanie lives under an alias because a warrant was issued for her arrest after she ran from a group home. She blossoms at the Center when her abusive boyfriend is in jail, but becomes sullen and withdrawn when he's free. Can attempts by her coworkers to bolster her self-esteem help her leave her abuser and permanently get her life on track?

GIRL TROUBLE Production Staff

Lexi Leban -- Producer / Director. Lexi is an award winning independent documentary filmmaker and public television producer. Her short films have screened at film festivals worldwide from San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, to the Berlin International Film Festival. Her film More Than A Paycheck, toured with the Women in the Director’s Chair national film series. Leban is the Co-producer of Mama Wuhunzi (Women Blacksmiths) a film shot on location in Uganda and Kenya about women with disabilities who spark a wheelchair-building revolution in Africa. She is the Associate Producer of Everyday Heroes, an intimate portrait of several bold young workers in the AmeriCorps program of National Service. She teaches video production, editing and compositing in the Digital Motion Picture Department at Cogswell Polytechnical College in Silicon Valley.

Lidia Szajko -- Producer / Director / Cinematographer. Lidia is an independent filmmaker and film educator whose work has screened at festivals internationally. Her work has received many awards, including the Isabella Liddell Art Award for Most Promising Woman Filmmaker at The 28th Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Peoples Choice Award at the 23rd Annual Humboldt Film & Video Festival, Honorable Mention at the Golden Gate Awards of the San Francisco International Film Festival and an Award of Merit at Superfest XVIII, An International Media Festival on Disabilities. Lidia is Chair of the Film Production Department at City College of San Francisco. She was appointed to the San Francisco Film Commission in 2001.

GIRL TROUBLE Advisors

Laurie Schaffner is the leading academic advisor for the project. She holds a B.A. from Smith College and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Berkeley. She is the author of, "Teenage Runaways, Broken Hearts and Bad Attitudes," and is a professor of Sociology at the Univeristy of Illinois, Chicago. She also serves as a Commissioner on the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Commission. She is providing Girl Trouble with the most current research on girls in the juvenile justice system.

Julie Posadas is an attorney and Director of Girls Services at San Francisco Juvenile Hall. Her job is to provide Training and workshops in the community for "at risk youth" on street law and juvenile justice issues. She gives workshops for the girls incarcerated at Youth Guidance Center in San Francisco. Her support has enabled us access to the group at San Francisco's juvenile Hall.

Patty Lee is San Francisco Deputy Public Defender for juveniles. She provides the project with information on the law, and how public policy affects criminal defense cases involving the girls we are following. She has also obtained both parental consent and the permission of Judge Donna Hitchins to film any court proceedings involving our main characters.

Contact Information

LEXI LEBAN & LIDIA SZAJKO
Producer/Directors
Critical Images Inc.
PO BOX 18766
Oakland CA 94619
www.girltrouble.org

phone: 415.452.1571
fax: 415.641.5812

lexi@girltrouble.org
lidia@girltrouble.org