979, only 322 students graduated. Lesly began skipping school in 8th grade. While Lesly was in the process of repeating the 9th grade, she was required to attend summer school to make up the missing credits and was offered a mercy “D” if she would describe a day in her life. Lesly has since renounced her gang ties. She currently is enrolled at Los Angeles Southwest College. In September 2007, Locke High School became a charter school operated by Green Dot Public Schools. Despite continued violence at Locke High School, Green Dot Public Schools has subdued hostility, increased parental involvement, and has organized its educational system into six academies. Production team The film was shot on location at Locke High School, where the story was based, as well as at other locations in South Central and East Los Angeles. These locations were chosen to “evoke the city in all its stark contrasts of privilege and poverty, hope and despair.” Jessica Romero, Andrea Valenzuela, Isamar Guijarro, Sheila Ochoa, and Ilene Trujillo were discovered at local area high schools. Director Alan Jacobs chose local teenagers with no acting experience to maintain the authenticity of the story. Jacobs believed that using real girls familiar with the types of issues depicted in the film would create an honesty to their performances. Alan Jacobs, a New York native, directed Down for Life It was Jacobs's seventh feature film. The film was Produced by Scott Alvarez and Frank Aragon. It was Aragon's sixth feature film. In 2001 Aragon won the Golden Eagle award from Nosotros. The art director, Bernardo Trujillo, won the Sierra Award for Best Art Direction for the feature film Frida (2002). In 2005, Trujillo’s work on And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) resulted in an Emmy nomination and a nomination for Excellence in Production Design by the Art Directors Guild. The Art Directors Guild also nominated Trujillo for Excellence in Production Design for the Oscar-winner Babel in 2007. Vito Colapietro composed the music for Down for Life. Previously, he worked on the soundtracks for Barbershop (2002) and Four Brothers (2005). He also was the composer for Just Another Day (2009). Reviews In 2009, Down for Life was screened at both the Toronto International Film Festival and the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, where it received critical support. The film was slated for a theatrical release in Fall 2010. Peter Hammond of