'RAISING BERTIE' PAINTS PORTRAIT OF HOPE AND HARDSHIP FOR THREE YOUNG MEN

Miles O'Brien | August 28, 2017 | PBS Newshour

MILES O’BRIEN: Finally tonight, an intimate look into an often overlooked community.

The documentary “Raising Bertie” follows three young African-American men coming of age in rural North Carolina as they struggle with school, society and generational poverty.

Documentarians Margaret Byrne and Ian Kibbe spent six years filming the young men, and sat down with Jeffrey Brown to discuss what they found.

WOMAN: What in the world going to happen to these boys? Have we given them the tools to be able to survive without getting into trouble?

JEFFREY BROWN: The new documentary “Raising Bertie” takes us to a place and a people rarely the focus of films, television or other media.

Set in rural North Carolina, it centers on three African-American males as they move from their teenager years into young adulthood, the hardships they endure, the hope they maintain.

Filmmaker Margaret Byrne spent six years on the project. She and producer Ian Robertson Kibbe join me now.

And welcome to both of you.