This film is part of our series BUITENBEENTJES: CAST OUT, showing in January and February at De Uitkijk.
A poignant and intimate cinéma vérité film about the lives of street children who have fled homes marked by neglect, addiction, or violence.
In 1980s Seattle, known at the time as the "most livable" city in the United States, filmmaker Martin Bell, photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and journalist Cheryl McCall set out to reveal a different side of this reality.
The result is this Oscar-nominated vérité documentary about street youth who have lost or fled their homes. The film follows nine young teens living a transient life on the streets of Seattle, surviving through begging, prostitution, and theft. With an honest and empathetic lens, Bell shines a light on a life filled with resilience, tragedy, humor, and love. Free from dramatized voice-overs, heavy moralizing, or preconceived judgments, Streetwise is a deeply human portrait of young people trying to survive in a world that has abandoned them.