Streetwise (1984 film)

Streetwise is a 1984 documentary film by director Martin Bell. It followed in the wake of a July 1983 Life magazine article, Streets of the Lost, by writer Cheryl McCall and photographer Mary Ellen Mark, Bells wife.

Mark photographed many of the children throughout the filming of Streetwise and published a book of the same name in 1988. The photographs are captioned with quotations from the film. The transcript of Bells film appears at the end of the book, with only minor differences.Streetwise portrays the lives of nine desperate teenagers. Thrown too young into a seedy, grownup world, these runaways and castaways survive, but just barely. Rat, the dumpster diver Tiny, the teenage prostitute Shellie, the babyfaced one and DeWayne, the hustler, are all old beyond their years. All are underage survivors fighting for life and love on the streets of downtown Seattle, Washington. ........

Source: Wikipedia