I have spent some 20 years making non-fiction films with the aim of peeling back layers of the onion, recasting stories in a new light. Through my work, I've tried to challenge viewers assumptions about the lives of trans-people, high level jockeys, murderers, even whistlers. If I can help shift viewers minds, that may be a step towards humanizing those perceived and often rejected as the other. This can then, encourage us to appreciate our differences, break down walls between groups, and pave the way for a more open, unified world.
TRAFFIC STOP is a natural extension of this pursuit. Viewers may enter the film with notions about who the victims of police abuse are, for example. However, Breaion King can serve as a living hero, a talented African American school teacher who is devoted to bettering herself and the world, and yet she was attacked by a caulous system and suffered bruises both physical and mental bruises.
In making the film, I hoped to take viewers on a ride with an unlikely candidate for abuse at the hands of law enforcement. Breaion had the courage to let my camera in, and I hope this intimate view will help people stand in her shoes, and in tern let her stand in for some of the countless people whose brutal encounters with police are swept under the rug. If for a half hour, I hope it TRAFFIC STOP will make it harder for people to shrug off Breaion — a self-made 26-year- old passionate school teacher — as just another statistic.