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Plot

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.
MPAA Rating:
Not Yet Rated
Genre(s):
Art and Experimental,Documentary,Special Interest
Run Time:
94min.
Theatrical Release Date:
02/11/1998
DVD Release Date:
06/28/2005
Director(s):
Michèle Ohayon
Themes:
Going Straight,Inner City Blues
Tone:
Compassionate,Earnest,Heartwarming,Intimate,Poignant,Upbeat
Keywords:
African-American,Latino/Latina,drugs,inner-city,overcome,performance-art,project [plan],struggle,teenagers,temptation,theater,violence,workshop [class]
Language:
English