This coming-of-age story follows four black teenagers from adolescence to adulthood who tap dance for tips in New Orleans, showing the joys and pains of growing up fast in the incarceration capital of the world.
Impact // Filmmaker’s Voice
Witnessing firsthand the disparities of our city, I’ve become passionate about shining a light on the crushing impact of carceral policies on Black communities. At its core, the goal of this film was to tell a coming-of-age story singular to New Orleans. In doing so, we give a face to the individuals most affected by the systemic injustice of Louisiana, where 95% of the youth arrested are Black. We watch the hopelessness and anger that flows directly from seeing authority figures presume them a threat to society (and punishing them as adults). For many Black youth here in New Orleans, being incarcerated is almost treated as an inevitability. As Deymond says in the cold open: “There’s two things to do down here: go to jail or die.” One Buck Won’t Hurt is an unambiguous affirmation of just how much Black lives matter and exactly why we still need to say so. – Christopher Stoudt