AMC Boston Common To Play 'Senseless Smoke', A Movie Made By Local Teenagers That Addresses Gun Violence
BOSTON (CBS) -- Young Black and brown people of Boston are displaying their talents this weekend on the silver screen at the AMC Boston Common movie theatre.
The new dramatic feature film called "Senseless Smoke" is a production of the Center For Teen Empowerment, a non-profit organization in Boston that empowers children and adults as agents of positive, individual, social, and institutional change.
The movie follows a group of youths in the aftermath of a senseless shooting.
Willington Vuelto plays the lead role of "Quan" in the movie.
"I think the stories we tell, It's going to resonate with people in our communities. It's called 'Senseless Smoke' because it sorts of reaches a point of senselessness, in the sense of we are stressed out, we don't have a lot of things really going for ourselves, not a lot of resources or options," Vuelto said.
Carrie Mays also has a lead role in the film.
"I think the movie personally is meant to reflect the lived experiences of especially Black youth in our communities who are struggling, losing somebody due to gun violence," Mays said.
Robert Bridgeman says the center has been working with the city as it relates to violence prevention for a long time.
"Right now that's a big issue, what's happening, the street violence, the gang violence, all the unnecessary death that's happening," Bridgeman said.
"Senseless Smoke" was originally supposed to be a play, but because of COVID, they decided to turn it into a short feature film. It's an hour and 20 minutes long. All of the actors are part of the Center for Teen Empowerment. The purpose of the film is to tackle key issues young people are going through, especially violence.
"A big part of this movie was to get a message out that not only should we be focusing on community policing and things of that sort, but where is the ownership and accountability on the people in the community to address violence," said Abrigal Forrester, Executive Director of the Center of Teen Empowerment.
The film is being played at AMC Boston Common for one night only on Saturday through a film festival grant.
