The Homestretch: Three Homeless Teenagers Fighting for Their Future

The Homestretch follows three homeless teens fighting to stay in school, graduate, and build a future. Each of these smart, ambitious teenagers - Roque, Kasey, and Anthony - will surprise, inspire, and challenge audiences to rethink stereotypes of homelessness as they work to complete their education while facing the trauma of being alone and abandoned at an early age.

These teens take us on their journeys of struggle and triumph through haunting images, intimate scenes, and first-person narratives. As their stories unfold, the film connects us deeply with larger issues of poverty, race, juvenile justice, immigration, foster care, and LGBTQ rights.

With unprecedented access to the Chicago Public Schools, The Night Ministry's Crib emergency youth shelter, and Teen Living Programs' Belfort House, The Homestretch follows these kids as they move through the milestones of high school while navigating a landscape of couch hopping, emergency shelters, transitional homes, street families and a school system on the front lines of this crisis. The film, a co-production between Spargel Productions and Kartemquin Films, examines the struggles these youth face in obtaining a high school level education and then follows them beyond graduation to focus on the crucial transition when the structure of school vanishes and homeless youth struggle to find the support and community they need to survive and be independent. A powerful, original perspective on what it means to be young, homeless, and building a future in America today.

The Homestretch will be shown on the following dates/times: Monday, January 15, at 1:00 p.m.

Tuesday, January 16, at 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday, January 17, at 1:00 p.m.

Thursday, January 18, at 6:00 p.m.

Friday, January 19, at 1:00 p.m.

Event Info

Nov 25, 2024, 6:30 to 8:30 PM

Nov 27, 2024, 10 to 11 AM

Nov 29 to Dec 1, 2024