Rabbit Academy-Award® nominated directing team Sean and Andrea Fine, and executive producers Ryan A. Brooks, John Leguizamo, and Susan MacLaury, deliver a voice for homeless youth through artistic expression in the inspirational short documentary Inocente. Inocente reunites The Fines’ with the producers of the Academy Award-nominated War/Dance, Shine Global, founded by Albie Hecht and Susan Mclaury.  The film will air on MTV tomorrow, August 17th at 10p.m. EST.

The documentary centers on a young artist’s determination not to surrender to the bleakness of her circumstances.  At 15, Inocente faces challenges that are staggering, but the hope in her story proves that it’s her dreams that define her rather than the hand she has been dealt.  The short doc has received accolades at the San Antonia Film Festival and the Arizona International Film Festival and was also included at the Hot Docs International Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival, Montclair Film Festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival. Inocente provides a new angle to MTV’S programming slate and reaches their demographic with a positive message of self-acceptance and self-discovery through the arts.

After discovering the staggering statistics that 1 in 45, approximately 1.6 million, children in America are homeless, The Fines became intrigued to tell the story of these disenfranchised children.  Notes Sean Fine, “We wanted to tell one child’s story, to put a personal face to the statistics.  By creating a human connection for the audiences to this largely ‘invisible’ issue, we hope to get them thinking about what they can do to make the changes necessary to help defeat this problem.”

When the directing duo was introduced to the San Diego-based A.R.T.S. program (A Reason to Survive), they found a channel for uncovering this largely silenced voice. The nonprofit uses all art forms as a vehicle to create positive, long-lasting change in children and youth facing major life challenges—giving them not only a reason to survive, but also to thrive. After speaking to the program director, the directors flew to San Diego and spent five days sans camera with Inocente and immediately fell in love with her story.  As The Fines began to let the camera roll, the story unfolded, telling not only a story of homelessness and art, but also a story about family and what it truly means to them to be homeless.  They discovered that Inocente’s experiences with A.R.T.S. has led her to transform her dark experiences into vibrant and colorful pieces of artwork that have the ability not only transport her from her destitute situation but also reach others whom her story may help.

About Rabbit
Launched in 2009, Rabbit is a bi-coastal production company representing a diverse and unique roster of directors, producers, designers, VFX artists and brand experience builders.

We handle all aspects of production, from preproduction through delivery – across platforms, disciplines, technologies and genres – and have developed a creative ecosystem that allows us to draw upon top global talent to fit the needs of any project.

At Rabbit, the only constant is our commitment to learn, collaborate, and celebrate the power of creative thinking.

About The Fines

Academy Award®-nominated directors and three-time Emmy award winners.  Sean is the director/cinematographer, and Andrea is the director/writer.  For the last decade, they have been producing, directing and shooting documentaries for the finest outlets in television and film.  They have worked in over thirty countries, from dangerous war zones to the Arctic Circle, to bring unknown human stories to the screen.

The Fines’ film War/Dance won the 2009 Best Documentary and Best Cinematography Emmy and was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.  War/Dance’s direction, cinematography and story were honored with over eighteen awards, including the Sundance Film Festival’s award for Best Documentary Design.  War/Dance tells the amazing story about the power of music to heal and transform the lives of children living in Uganda’s war zone.

The Fines’ unique style has been honored with numerous awards including Sundance Film Festival’s Best Documentary Design; National Emmy Award; Hot Docs Film Festival’s Audience Award; Chicago Film Festival’s Outstanding Cinematography; Full Frame Film Festival’s Audience Award; The Haskell Wexler Award for Cinematography; Philadelphia Film Festival’s Best Director; Best Non-Fiction Film in Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival.