The Producers
Billy Raftery – Director, Writer, Producer. Raftery recently directed, wrote and produced the highly-acclaimed one-hour television documentary WITH A KISS, which aired on CBS Sports and Turner Sports during the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four and National Championship. WITH A KISS is an intimate story told through a son’s POV about his father, iconic Basketball Hall of Famer and Sports Emmy Award Winner, Bill Raftery. Currently, he is an Executive Producer with LeBron James on FIVE STAR BASKETBALL, a retrospective documentary on the legendary basketball camp. In addition, Raftery served as a producer and second unit director on the 2016 IFC and Showtime nationwide theatrically released THE PREPPIE CONNECTION starring Thomas Mann (ME, EARL AND THE DYING GIRL and PROJECT X). Raftery also produced the #1 Box Office Weekend Per Screen Documentary in 2012 titled LONG SHOT: THE KEVIN LAUE STORY that was optioned by Vince McMahon’s WWE Studios (2015) for a fiction feature adaptation. His early work includes commercial experience as director of photography for American Idol, Mercedes Benz regional and Pop Tarts. Raftery graduated from Columbia University (‘03). Directly after graduation, he founded the Children Rise Foundation - a nonprofit for homeless youth in South Africa.
Making The Film
After graduating University, Billy went on a surf trip to South Africa and ended up in Durban. Inspired by the countless homeless youth in his Durban beachfront neighborhood, he returned home, founded a non‐profit (Children Rise Foundation), raised a little seed money and returned equipped with a camera to make a documentary in hopes of shedding light on this clearly visible yet vastly unnoticed population. He never could have imagined the film would be completed in its current form (after 8‐years of work) and receive support from so many different people in the process. Our team put together a monumental order with little resources and are now in a place to tell a story about two children that will raise awareness around the issue of homeless youth not only in South Africa, but for all‐to similar populations around the world.
What does the onset of puberty and sexual awakening mean for a street child? Over eight years, this intimate and finely honed documentary captures the fear,
heartbreak and tragedy experienced by Ariel and Zuleika. Growing up homeless on the streets of Durban, the girls are invisible to the sophisticated society around them. Their world is one of violence, drugs, prostitution and murder - but even in the most adverse environment, teenage love blossoms.
Winner - Best South African Documentary, Durban International Film Festival, 2013