“Misdirection: Magic shop in Queens transforms the lives of troubled youths"

Short Synopsis

Misdirection: a documentary about youths in Queens, N.Y. who struggle to turn their own experiences of poverty, depression, and violence into the stuff of magic – literally.

Description/Treatment

“Misdirection: Magic shop in Queens transforms the lives of troubled youths" is a documentary film that follows three young men on a 2-year odyssey, through small triumphs and big set-backs, as they train to become professional magicians – the unconventional career they hope will lift them past poverty and old mistakes - and make them rich and famous. A trailer can be seen at the Prior Logic Productions website. Another 25 minute DVD of selected scenes is available on request.

The film is currently 4 weeks from finishing a rough cut. We seek funds for post-production finishing costs and outreach.

Our three main characters are: Miles, whose mental health issues include a serious anxiety disorder; Devonte, a former gang member, and Chapalini, a children's performer who supports himself by working as a janitor in Manhattan. Their idol is the very successful magician and TV personality David Blaine (who appears in the film and will assist in promotion). Their practical mentor is the more humble Roger Quan, the Asian-American owner of Rogues, a magic supplies shop on bleak Queen's Boulevard, where ex-gang members and kids from broken families have found a second home  and look for tricks to change their lives. Roger shepherds his protégés (with varying degrees of success) to prestigious magic competitions in Reno and Nashville…. and to less glorious gigs in dingy back street clubs. They increasingly use magic to express pain and joy, and work into their magic acts compelling stories about real life in the communities that made them. They learn - with the mentorship of famous David and stalwart Roger -- how much hard work it takes to spin fantasies into gold.

Misdirection is a universal story about ambition, redemption, coming-of-age, and the courage to correct wrong-turns. It shows youths overcoming handicaps – both self-imposed and societal; and how good mentoring actually works.

The First Act introduces the young men and the gritty neighborhood they yearn to escape. We see their daily routines, establish their histories (gang life, drugs, depression) and find out how they stumbled into the world of magic. This act ends when Roger, the magic shop owner, convinces the main characters to join him in Reno to compete in their first international competition.

The Second Act begins in Reno, where things don’t go so well. Our heroes are fish out of water: greatly out-spent, out-performed and out-accessoried by their better-prepared competitors. Intimidated, they don’t perform near their potential, and are eliminated from the competition. What follows are life-changing revelations about who they are in their deeper cores, and who they must become as performers. They return to Queens, where real life welcomes them back with big hard bumps. Miles lapses into a bout of General Anxiety Disorder and is hospitalized. Chapalini must take care of his kids and puts the magic on hold. Devonte suffers a horrible accident and comes within inches of dying. But they keep up the magic training, and that discipline starts bleeding into other strengths.

In the third and Final Act, Devonte emerges as the hero of the story as he enters a new magic competition in Nashville, Tennesse. He goes on to greater professional heights than we ever imagined when we started by digging deep down into his past and incorporating his gang life into a magic act that leaves the audience in tears. He does not walk away with the gold, but is discovered by Tom Verner, the founder of Magicians without Borders. Tom is deeply moved by Devonte's act and offers Devonte the chance to travel around the world with him, teaching magic to at-risk youth in the darkest corners of the Third World. The story comes full circle as Devonte takes over the El Salvador chapter of Magicians without Borders and realizes that real magic is not about the neon lights in Las Vegas, but giving hope to a new set of kids by allowing them to see the power of magic to transform not only their audiences, but themselves. He returns to Queens a changed man. 

As are the hard realities of life, Miles will not do as well, still struggling to overcome his personal issues, but ultimately emerging with a greater sense of self and what it will take to move on as he moves away from New York City to live with his family.

  Meanwhile, Chapalini will also embrace the community service aspect of magic, performing at a Haiti Benefit at Madison Square Garden in May of 2010. 

 

The production team is partnered with the Hunts Point Alliance for Children (HPAC) [http://www.hpac10474.org/, who will assist with the teachers guide and related outreach resources for the film, use the film in their career mentoring program called "Find Your Own Magic," and advise on promoting the film to many other community programs that also focus on youth-at-risk. Hunts Point is a Bronx neighborhood with the highest rate of unemployment, Orders of Protection and premature death in the New York City area.

Our partners at HPAC tell us that other youths who want to escape the poverty cycle are desperate for positive role models like our three characters -- people who look like them, have a strong work ethic in unexpected settings, and manage to create their own unique career paths. Not all our characters make it to the big time show-biz magic circuit. This keeps the story credible – as does the dark visual aesthetic of the film. All three young men discover that change isn’t easy; but that some disappointments can turn out OK. That’s the thing about magic – it’s tricky.

 

We seek funds to complete post-production, editing, and to pursue broadcast and distribution deals for the film; as well as to prepare teachers guides and web resources to make the film use-able by many career mentoring programs for youths in disadvantaged communities across the country.