Colors Straight Up

Colors Straight Up (1997)

Sub-Genres - Social Issues, Race & Ethnicity, Biography, Children's Issues  |   Release Date - Oct 31, 1997 (USA - Unknown)  |   Run Time - 90 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Mark Deming

This documentary offers an inside look at Colors United, a performing-arts workshop set up as an after-school activity for at-risk teens at Jordan High School in the tough Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts. As the students rehearse a musical theater piece (a musical update of Romeo and Juliet called Watts Side Story), we learn more about the African-American and Latino teenagers involved in the project, as they struggle against the temptations of guns, drugs, and violence and use Colors United as a safe haven and a means of expressing their thoughts, fears, and aspirations. Colors Straight Up received an Academy Award nomination in 1997 for Best Documentary Feature.

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Keywords

inner-city, teenagers, theater, workshop [class], African-American, Latino/Latina, struggle, drugs, overcome, performance-art, temptation, violence, project [plan]