Little
Drummer
Boy

I made this film because issues of the homeless affect me deeply and personally. My mother and I went through transitional housing when I was a small child, and I did not understand it at the time, but we were actually homeless. I also became more empathetic with extreme homelessness and tent culture while going to a Jesuit Catholic High School where we consistently learned about human dignity and giving to the “least of us.” 

As someone who was born in San Francisco and had to relocate somewhere cheaper in the Bay Area, I know how the culture of a city can fade over time when the people who defined it have to leave because they cannot afford to stay anymore. The City has left them, so they have to leave the City. This story attempts to combine issues that I care about and explore them in my favorite genre: a coming-of-age type story.

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I think what makes this story different from other ones that might focus on gentrification or homelessness is that the film is told from the perspective of a homeless kid. Keon has no business being in this story; he should’ve been taken into child protective services and gone through the foster care system. However, he found himself here through his skills and street savvy. Keon’s world gets turned upside down and it all happens because of the side effects of gentrifying a city. 

I think as more and more cities go through these changes, it’s important to consider the culture that gets lost. How to improve our cities is a complex issue that impacts many lives, some positively and others negatively. The film doesn’t attempt to answer policy questions about gentrification, but it hopes to humanize the people affected. At the very least, those moving into gentrified places should be aware of who’s moving out, and Little Drummer Boy offers a glimpse into their world.

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-- Ellis J. Sutton