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CATCHING BULLETS Screening by MM High School Intern Lily

by Melinda Raebyne March 18, 2026 0

On January 31st, the Meaningful Movies High School Internship Group hosted an online screening of the powerful documentary Catching Bullets sponsored by the Faces not Forgotten Project. The high school interns, Atharv, Erika, and
I (Lily) chose to highlight the topic of gun violence after experiencing its impacts in our own lives. In hopes to further open the eyes of our communities and ourselves to the reality of gun violence, we worked to coordinate the screening with the help of Meaningful Movies Executive Director Melinda Raebyne. Catching Bullets reveals the devastation that gun violence can bring, and follows real people affected by the issue in St. Louis, Missouri. The film covers the brutality of gun violence while simultaneously highlighting organizations that rebuild and uplift young people and their community. The screening of Catching Bullets was followed by the short film Faces not Forgotten, which honors the real-life victims of gun violence.

The post film panel included the film’s director Ben Scholle, a filmmaker and professor of cinema at Lindenwood University in St. Louis whose work focuses primarily on social justice topics; Precious Jones, the founder of Breaking Generational Poverty Foundation, Inc. and a nationally recognized community advocate working to end youth and community violence; and
Darren Seals, a survivor in Catching Bullets whose life is dictated by the unforgiving rules of the streets and the constant threat of violence.

The post film discussion was filled with engaging questions and poignant answers. The panel members shared their personal experiences and painted a clear picture of how gun violence and the trauma that follows changes lives forever. They also explained how their trauma can manifest as a need to advocate and fight against gun violence. They moved the audience by showing how through their pain and grief they still manage to have so much compassion.

As a high school intern, this was the first screening that I helped organize and it was truly inspiring. In choosing a film about gun violence I was hoping to educate myself and others since the main discourse about gun violence that I am exposed to is either vague or meant to evoke fear. However, this screening did more than educate me. It helped me truly understand what it is like to have gun violence as a part of your daily life, how devastating losing someone that way can be, and how crucial it is that people come together to fight it.

*** Article written by our High School Intern Lily.