NEWS FLASH - Journeyman Screening Date Set for San Diego:

May 21st, 715 PM, at the Ken Theater (go to the "screenings" page for more info).

Journeyman is a one-hour documentary that follows Joe and Mike, two adolescent boys struggling with depression and violence, who join a mentoring program. As they work with male mentors they face challenging rites of passage, discover their inner strength, and learn to engage with a community of supportive men.

"Journeyman" is a one-hour documentary about rites of passage, mentoring, and male culture in America. The film follows Joe and Mike, two teenage boys from diverse backgrounds who struggle with depression and violence, both of whom are in dire need of support and guidance from adult males. In a mentoring program, they face challenging rites of passage, discover their inner strength, and learn to engage with a community of supportive men.

The film introduces us to the boys' families, and recounts their childhood experiences without fathers in their lives. Michael Gurian (The Wonder of Boys), Dr. Michael Obsatz (Raising Nonviolent Children in a Violent World) and Dr. Barbara Coloroso (Kids are Worth It) lend insight as we examine the negative stereotypes of boys that reinforce their isolation from the larger male culture. We find that men's fear of boys can lead to emotional abandonment by elders, which results in a vicious circle of self-destructive and violent behavior.

Finding the inner wildman

We follow the boys into the woods on a Wilderness Awareness retreat with the Boys to Men mentoring organization, addressing the effects of media addiction on family relationships and developmental psychology with Dr. David Walsh (Selling Out America's Children). We are then granted access to the very sensitive activities that take place during the group's "Rites of Passage" weekend, a transformative and cathartic series of emotional challenges that the boys face, under the close supervision of a community of mentors, to mark the beginning of their transition to manhood.

"Journeyman’s" second and converging story is about the boys' mentors. Marty and Dennis are representatives of a new, more nurturing movement in male culture that seeks to repair the community of men, in which wisdom and integrity are shared between the generations. These men are on their own emotional journey, learning through the mentoring relationship to uncover and face their own unresolved issues from childhood. This process allows them to see themselves and their unique gifts with new clarity.

Through these stories, "Journeyman" examines an emotional and social crisis evident in American boys that is finally emerging into our cultural consciousness due to the ever-increasing problem of gang violence and academic failure among America's teenage boys. The film suggests that these facts are mere symptoms of a greater dysfunction. Huge changes in men’s work and family roles are reducing the time that men actually spend with boys, interrupting the transmission of important values, wisdom and integrity from one generation to the next. As all Americans attempt to cope with a culture of consumerism, media saturation, and the ever-accelerating pace of professional and social life, many boys are falling through the cracks because they confront these challenges without the support of an intact family and local community. Boys frequently suffer in silence as pain becomes privatized, and crying is seen as unmanly. External masks and rewards are seen as goals, rather than the development of personal integrity born in a strong sense of community and compassion.

However, the film finds evidence of a movement underway to redefine male roles and to promote new models of emotional wholeness and personal integrity for men. Mike and Joe’s first step into this deeper and more meaningful world leads them to a more mature awareness of their own needs and feelings. But they can only achieve this because of finding an environment of unconditional acceptance. This experience fosters a sense of empathy for others, and a new sense of responsibility as adult members of a larger community.