GAYLETTER

The philosophy at the heart of director Elegance Bratton’s documentary Pier Kids: The Life is one of both simplicity and urgency: “Nobody wants to live outside.” Three years in the making, the film hones in on three gay and transgender youths living on the piers by Christopher Street in Manhattan’s affluent Greenwich Village. The neighborhood has long been a haven for the gay community of New York, most notably serving as home to the historic Stonewall Inn. But while Christopher St. is emblematic of the gay rights movement, it is also symbolic of those living within the fringes of the LGBT community, the kids of color kicked out of their houses by their own parents and left to fend for themselves on the streets.

Bratton, who himself spent time living on the streets when he was young, has set his sights on those left behind, focusing on Black and Latina subjects that have been largely rejected and ignored by a movement that initially stood for inclusion and support.

Now, Bratton has taken to Kickstarter to raise funds for the completion of the project. In the trailer for the film, scenes of vogueing and camaraderie are set side-by-side with police harassment and prostitution, exposing the world of homeless LGBT youth in brutal honesty. With a projected release date for sometime in the next year, Pier Kids is already proving to be as raw as an open wound, a film that is at once provocative as it is necessary.

Click here to watch the trailer and help fund the documentary here.