Boys to Men Events Calendar

Journeyman

Boys to Men is Featured in New Documentary Screening November 15th, 2007

Boys to Men Minnesota Invites you to a premier screening of a documentary which stars many of its local community.

Journeyman, a Minnesota Documentary film on Boys & Men Culture Crisis, will premier at the Riverview Theater, 3800 42nd Ave S. Minneapolis 55406 at 7:00p.m. on Thursday, November 15th.

After two years of local filming, the film will get its chance to cut open across the myths about why male depression and violence has been escalating in America. Created by director Kevin Obsatz and producer Charlie Borden, Journeyman took 2 years to film Boys to Men events here and in two other BTM centers. Journeyman explores hidden experiences of Rites of Passage, mentoring, and male culture in America. Two of the principal collaborators, Charlie Borden and Mike Obsatz, are Twin Cities community organizers who have been a part of delivering programs, rituals, plus mentoring for men and boys around the country.

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 need of support and guidance from adult males. In Boys to Men, they face challenging rites of passage, discover 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.

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.

Please Join us at the Riverview Theater 7:00 p.m., Thursday, November 15th for this special event! For more information about Journeyman, visit the MirrorMan Films website.