Support the Check It Documentary on Indiegogo

CHECK IT Trailer for Indiegogo from fungible on Vimeo

The team behind an upcoming documentary about the gay "gang" Check It is almost finished with their work, and they want your help to wrap things up. For those who are unfamiliar with Check It, the group does have a rather interesting story. It's a group of mostly LGBT youth who banded together to protect themselves and each other, and have sometimes gotten in trouble along the way. The group started back in 2005, and has reportedly grown to about 200 members across the area. If you're wondering why I mention this documentary on Frozen Tropics, it's because started right here in Trinidad (you may also have noticed groups of associated youths on the X2 over the years).

Here's a short blurb from the Indiegogo site:

CHECK IT is a feature–length documentary about a gay African American gang struggling to survive in one of Washington D.C.’s most violent neighborhoods. It is an intimate portrait of 5 childhood friends as they claw themselves out of gang life through an unlikely avenue–fashion.

The documentary in the making has generated a lot of news recently (WAMU, MTV, BuzzFeed, Vice). And it's a legitimately interesting project (Steve Buscemi's even helping produce it!).

Here's a 2011 Washington Post story about Check It before an intervention to try to steer the members in a more positive direction. ABC7 followed up the next year with a story about members of the group putting on an organized performance for some Chinatown merchants.