Circles: Documentary Screening + Networking Reception
Date and time
Location
New Student Centre
York University 4700 Keele St. North York, ON M3J 1P3 CanadaDescription
Join us for the launch of YouthREX's Knowledge to Action (KtA) Exchange: a screening and discussion of the documentary Circles, an honest and intimate look at the life of Eric Butler, a father, educator, and youth worker in Oakland, California.
About Circles:
Eric Butler, a Hurricane Katrina survivor and pioneer of the restorative justice movement, relocates and finds work at an Oakland, California, high school enforcing his no-nonsense approach to counseling vulnerable Black and Latino teenagers.
Shot over two years, the film follows Butler’s impassioned efforts to nurture troubled youth and keep them in school, fighting racial discrimination by replacing snap suspensions and expulsions with gritty, intimate, and honest mentoring. But when his own teenage son is arrested and beaten in jail, he begins to question his methods and ability — not just as a teacher, but also as a father. With incredible access, Circles is an inspirational portrait of a father desperate to provide his son with the leadership and compassion he never received from his own.
Eric Butler and director Cassidy Friedman will be joined on-stage following the screening by YouthREX’s Travonne Edwards and a panel of practitioners for an engaging discussion on restorative justice.
Doors at 5:30PM, screening at 6:00PM, followed by a panel discussion. A networking reception will follow the panel discussion in the KtA Lounge.
