Filmmakers: Frank Popper, Jim Kirchherr
Runtime: 82 min
Marlon Wharton, a high school counselor whose father was murdered while growing up in a dangerous inner-city neighborhood, is determined to save the lives of young men through “step” and to steer them from the violence of the streets and into a brotherhood, forming bonds that will last them a lifetime.
About The Filmmakers
Co-director, independent filmmaker Frank Popper’s feature documentary debut Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? (2006) won the AFI Docs (Silverdocs) Audience Award; was an International Documentary Association Finalist, Best Feature; made the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences shortlist for the documentary feature; won a Special Jury Prize at the International Human Rights Film Festival of Paris, and aired on PBS Independent Lens. Popper filmed the feature documentary Eroica! (2003) which also aired on Independent Lens. Gentlemen of Vision is his third documentary feature.
Co-director Jim Kirchherr is senior director of content at the Nine Network, St. Louis’ public television station, where he won numerous awards for his reporting and documentary work. His national credits include the 2012 PBS election year documentary series, Homeland: Immigration in America. Before coming to public television, he worked as a reporter at commercial stations and as a news editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany.