Directing
RUST is the third documentary in Newark filmmakers Marylou and Jerome Bongiorno's 3Rs Trilogy on Urban America. Following the success of critically-acclaimed, award-winning national PBS broadcast REVOLUTION '67 (2007) on riots/rebellions of the 1960's and THE RULE (2014) on urban school reform, RUST uses Newark, New Jersey as a microcosm to take a deeper look into Rust Belt poverty, racism and mass incarceration while detailing industrialization and deindustrialization.
See how the Benedictine monks of Newark Abbey, in the heart of one of America's most dangerous cities, are able to achieve amazing success with the most vulnerable population: inner city African American and Latino teenage males. While Newark, NJ, with a high poverty rate of 32%, has an abysmal high school graduation rate, St. Benedict's Prep has a near 100% COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE rate. The film details how their "recipe for success" follows the 6th century Rule of Saint Benedict and how this rule can serve as a model for whole cities nationwide.
A focus on the six-day Newark, N.J. riots in July 1967: they began as spontaneous revolts against poverty and police brutality and ended as fateful milestones in America's struggles over race and economic justice.
