Since 1993, more than 400 people have died from gang-related violence in Little Rock.


USA 1993
Director: Marc Levin
Producers: Marc Levin, Daphne Pinkerson, Al Levin
Director of photography: Mark Benjamin
Screenplay: Documentary
Editor: Alison Elwood
Main cast: Documentary
Production company: BlowBack Productions, 142 W. 26 St. 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA. Tel: 1.212.929 52 54, Fax: 1.212.633 97 29
European sales agent: Itel, 48 Leicester Square, London WC2H 7FB, Great Britain, Tel: 44.71.491 14 41, Fax: 44.71.493 76 77
Running time: 61 mins
Format: 16 mm, colour
Dialogue: English
There is a war on in Little Rock, Arkansas. A town where the homicide rates are higher than in both New York and Los Angeles.
During the last couple of years Little Rock has attracted the gangs of the big cities who are trying to take over the profitable drug scene. Some of them rules the areas around the guvernor's house where Bill Clinton's daughter Chelsea once had her home. Every day young gang members are shot dead in the streets of the city. All in front of the local police who stand powerless.

Gang War: Bangin' In Little Rock shows that gang violence is no longer exclusive to the big cities. In Little Rock there are over 50 gangs which constantly attract new members from the socially outcast youths since they give them a sense of security and solidarity which they have never known. This is a disturbing documentary where we see how members test new recruits by beating them up and we see meaningless drive-by shootings. We see adolescents who live on the dark side of society, a bullet away from the morgue.

The problem with the street gangs is a social disease rapidly spreading. From the malignant tumours in the big cities to the American country side, where it threatens to eat a whole generation.


Producer's statements
"Gang War: Bangin' In Little Rock chronicles the lives of rival gang members in Little Rock, Arkansas, and shows how gang violence is no longer the exclusive domain of urban centers like Los Angeles and Chicago. Allowed unprecedented access to this culture, the producers of Gang War offer a frank, unblinking look into the lives of lokal Bloods, Crips, and Folk. From an initiation ritual in which members beat a recruit to test her mettle, to a harrowing drive-by shooting, Gang War shows how gang members live in the shadow of violence and under constant threat of death by gunfire."

Marc Levin
Born 1951 in USA. Levin is an award winning film maker who has written, directed and produced many higly acclaimed documentary films. His Portait of an American Zealot was recognized by the Museum of Modern Art as a work of special importance and made part of the museum's permanent film collection. He won a national Emmy award as the producer/editor of The Secret Goverment.
Filmography (selection): 1982 Portrait of an American Zealot*, 1985 Wall Street Connection*, 1987 What's Going On*, 1990 Blowback, 1991 The Pacific Century*, 1991 The Home Front With Bill Moyers*, 1993 Mob Stories*, 1993 The Last Party, 1994 Graffiti War*, 1994 Gang War: Bangin' In Little Rock* -- *documentary




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