SOLDIER TO SOLDIER
Dir. Nicole Cousino

Running Time: 11:00 | Filmed in: DV, Color | Completed: 2006 | Premiere: World Premiere

Synopsis
Presented as a dueling spoken word performance, written by then 18 year old poet, Rienne Scott, Soldier to Soldier is a tale of 2 soldiers; one, a U.S. soldier in Iraq, confronting the reality of war and longing to return to his home town of Philadelphia; the other, a “street soldier” living in Philadelphia, who speaks to the violence he and his community face regularly and his desire to escape this threatening environment.

Through the form of poetry, this short video reveals aspects of a reality for many young people – the experience of war, the poverty draft, gun violence on the streets and the stark lack of alternatives that could lead towards a more hopeful future.

Crew
Producer & director: Nicole Cousino; Writer & co-director: Rienne Scott

Bios
Rienne Scott was born in 1986 and raised in Philadelphia. At 16 she graduated high school and went immediately on to college at Chestnut Hill College. She has been a poet since the age of 13, performing in venues in Philadelphia and New York. In 2004, she was the Kudjo Contest winner. She is currently developing a spoken word workshop for teens, to be presented at various high schools in Philadelphia.

Nicole Cousino, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, has presented her documentaries and experimental videos at various festivals and venues, nationally and internationally, since 1988. Her work has addressed a broad range of topics from domestic violence to biodiesel to the prison industrial complex to de-industrialization. Always interested in the collaborative process she wanted to produce a short work about the war in Iraq but from a young person’s perspective. This project presented a first time opportunity to collaborative with young poets.