British Council Logo UK Films Database
Project Detail

Zoned In

Synopsis

It wasn't exactly a promising childhood. An impoverished father at fifteen, Daniel joined the family business, becoming a drug dealer despite watching his two brothers jailed for the same crime. But when his mother narrowly escapes a prison sentence, and moves the family from North Carolina to the South Bronx, Daniel is given a fresh start. At Taft High School, one of the most violent, notorious high schools in the nation, Daniel discovers that education can give him a future away from poverty and crime. Mature beyond his years, and increasingly articulate, he becomes a dedicated student, not only is he the first of his family to graduate high school, but he wins a scholarship to one of the most elite universities in the US.

Just as he thinks the world is his oyster, Daniel falters. A fish out of water he feels alienated not only by his white classmates, but even more so by his middle-class black ones. Filmed over nine years by director Daniela Zanzotto, and narrated by Daniel himself, this is a remarkable portrait of a self-believer determined to steer his own path in life.

Details

Year
2009
Type of project
Features
Running time
90 mins
Format
Mini DV
Director
Daniela Zanzotto
Producer
Colin Pons
Co-Producer
Colin Pons
Editor
Dominique Lutier
Director of Photography
Daniela Zanzotto
Sound
Daniela Zanzotto
Composer
Christopher Grande Jr

Genre

Black Drama

Categories

Fiction Documentary

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Disruptive Element Films

daniela@disruptive.co.uk

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

If The Walls Could Speak If The Walls Could Speak

Director: Daniela Zanzotto

Year: 1999

La Muette housing estate in Drancy, outskirt of Paris: today houses people on low incomes, yesterday interned a total of 67,000 Jews on their way to death camps. If The Walls Could Speak is a documentary which traces the history of this building and brings the past into the present in a dynamic, contemporary way.

Wild Horse Nine Wild Horse Nine

Director: Martin McDonagh

Year: 2026

CIA agents Chris and Lee face a trust-testing mission from Santiago to Easter Island during 1973 Chile.

Crime / Mystery Drama Thriller
Sweetsick Sweetsick

Director: Alice Birch

Year: 2026

A mercurial woman with a strange and piercing gift - the ability to see what others most intimately need, often at great personal cost - sets out on a journey home.

Drama