Andrew "Burnz" Burnett : Lost in the Struggle - the fifth estate

From our 2006 piece Lost in the Struggle a profile of Andrew "Burnz" Burnett.

MORE INFO : Young men in some neighbourhoods of Canadian cities are drawn to a culture of violence. A culture where drug sales are often a source of income, friendships are defended with weapons, and a deadly dispute can start with a disrespectful glance. Rather than accessing this world through the police or social workers, producers wanted to document the lives of the young men in their own voices and to understand how they get left behind by the systems of education, social services and justice that are supposed to protect them. To get the access needed to tell this story, producers enlisted two young filmmakers.

Paul Nguyen and Mark Simms grew up in Toronto's Jane and Finch neighbourhood, an area that has waged a decades-long battle against a reputation for violence and hopelessness. Simms and Nguyen introduced producers to three young men who have all lived with violence, at times as the victim, at times the perpetrator.

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