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Pahokee prom featured in Sundance documentary

Posted at 8:56 PM, Jan 15, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-15 20:56:02-05

Two students from Pahokee High School are headed to Utah next week for the Sundance Film Festival.

They were part of a documentary shot last year, called "The Send-Off."

Patrick Bresnan of Austin, Texas, directed the film.

He says his parents moved to West Palm Beach ten years ago, and since then he's frequently visited Pahokee and Belle Glade.

"There's an incredible community of educators, pastors, parents, who've really worked hard to make this a really great place to live," he says.

While visiting two years ago, he says he stumbled upon a huge block party surrounding a group of teens headed to prom.

"There were several thousand people, there were cars lined up for half a mile. The whole community of Pahokee had come out to see their seniors and juniors," he says.

Patrick says the scene was so memorable to him, that he had to make a documentary about it.

The short film was shot last spring and features seniors Tiana Crawford and Christopher Burgess, Jr.

Christopher says he was excited to be a part of the film.

"I felt like a movie star at that moment," he says.

The Pahokee prom is very glamorous, and Christopher says his mother and other parents put in a lot of hard work to make it possible.

"My mother, she did a lot of overtime to get what I needed," he says.

Tiana says the prom is a chance for teens to show off their outfits, date and car.

Patrick raised thousands of dollars when he found out his film was going to Sundance, so he could bring Tiana and Christopher with him to Utah.

The teens are excited, and say this is a great chance to show the world what Pahokee is about.

"Everybody sees Pahokee as a bad thing---as a bad, drama thing. But Pahokee isn't really bad. It's just some of the people that we have. If you really look outside the  box, Pahokee is a good place to stay at," Christopher says.