I spoke with Daniela Zanzotto about her upcoming film Zoned In, premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s about a young Black man, Daniel Nartey, who journeys from an urban South Bronx public school to a serene Rhode Island Ivy League school—and discovers his life’s purpose along the way. Click here to learn more about Zoned In and to view clips of the movie.
JB: Daniel is such an interesting young man and it’s so great to see him grow and develop as a person. How did you find him?
DZ: My original intention was to make a documentary about the challenges of public education in what was then the most notorious and chaotic high school in the South Bronx—Taft High School. A good friend of mine was a teacher in this school and I started by taking my camera inside his classroom and filmed with his students. Daniel just happened to be one of these students.
JB: Was there something specifically about him that caught your attention early on that convinced you that he was the one to follow for so long?
DZ: In the harsh environment of Taft and the Bronx, the young people I met still carried a hope that they would fulfill their dreams, but Daniel stood out. I was captivated by his personality, maturity, and his desire to succeed all the while knowing he was fighting against incredible odds. Meeting and watching someone who was putting all his might into resisting what society had reserved for him was inspiring and grabbed my interest as a filmmaker. There was an incredible energy coming from this young person, which I knew would engage others as it had me. And by my second trip, Daniel was applying to Ivy League universities, which was an absolute rarity for teenagers like him. It was obvious that whatever the future held for him, his story would help to paint a picture of poverty in America that doesn’t often get seen.
JB: Nine years is an incredible period of time to stay with one project and I commend you for your diligence and perseverance. Other than financial, what was your biggest hurdle with getting this film made?
DZ: Not knowing what the final outcome would be for the film sometimes made it hard to stay motivated. I was filming without a particular goal for a good few years, until graduation from Brown was within Daniel’s reach and I knew he would go back to teach. It was a strange kind of blind faith in the importance of Daniel’s story that kept me going. It was also sometimes hard to stay in touch with Daniel, being so far away, he often didn’t respond to emails and didn’t really keep me up to date with what was happening. Every time I organized a trip to go and see him, I was never sure that it would actually happen. But when I saw him, he was always like he had been the previous time, and as committed to the filming as ever.
JB: Did Daniel every tire of being your subject?
DZ: He never expressed it if he did! I was lucky that he was as committed as I was, even if some things took persuading. But I think crucially, he was never my “subject,” or at least he wasn’t a passive subject. From the beginning, he had a very specific story he wanted to tell and the last few years felt like it was a real collaboration. Daniel invested as much emotionally in the film as I did.
JB: What’s your next project?
DZ: I have a few things bubbling around in my head; a couple of them are spinoffs from Zoned In, but nothing I can talk about yet!
