On Monday 15 June, Lofty Nathan’s documentary film 12 O’clock Boys was screened to an audience at the Frontline Club.

The film first premiered in 2013 at the South by South West Film Festival in Texas. However, in light of recent civil unrest in Baltimore, the film remains highly topical in its exploration of gang culture, poverty, and the many disparities between residents and authorities.

With unfettered access, Nathan follows a young boy named Pug through his transient teenage years as he seeks to become a member of a notorious dirt bike pack. The 12’Clock Boys are named as such, as Pug explains, because they ride their bikes upright like the hands on a clock.

The group skilfully ride through the streets of Baltimore in large packs, pulling dangerous and high speed stunts. They are in constant conflict with the police, who struggle with a policy of not chasing bikers because of the risk that doing so poses to the public.

The dirt bike culture gives the film’s young protagonist something to aspire towards – an identity, status and a tangible yet temporary escape from poverty. Nathan makes no attempt to explain, justify or judge what he sees. He allows Pug and the other protagonist articulate their own thoughts.

Without commentary, Nathan offers up an insight into the challenges of life in inner city Baltimore and allows the audience to draw their own conclusions. .

Pug, a wisecracking 13-year-old living on a dangerous Westside block in Baltimore, has one goal in mind: to join The 12 O’Clock Boys, the city’s notorious urban dirt bike gang. Converging from all parts of the inner city, they invade the streets and perform dangerous stunts at high speeds. The gang has a history of clashing with the police, who are forbidden to chase the bikes for fear of endangering the public.

Pug looks to the pack for mentorship, spurred by their dangerous lifestyle. He narrates their world as if explaining a dreamscape, and this insight is complemented by unprecedented, action-packed footage of the riders in their element. The film presents the pivotal years of change in a boy’s life growing up in one of the most dangerous and economically depressed cities in the United States.

Director Lotfy Nathan followed Pug for three years over the course of the film’s production, documenting his transition from a witty and energetic boy to a teenager eager to find comradeship in a gang that prides in its recklessness and disregard for authority. Nathan does not pass judgement on the group’s activities; instead he gains up-close access to their high-suspense rides, following the mayhem through the eyes of a boy on the margins.

Directed by Lotfy Nathan
Duration: 71′
Year: 2014