SHOWS FOR YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR PARENTS TOO : ‘112th and Central’: A view of the riots from and by youths

In all of the film footage and broadcasts that followed the 1992 Los Angeles riots, there is one project about what happened that sets itself apart by its perspective and production.

Many of the same youths we see being interviewed in 112th and Central, a documentary that opened at the Vista in Los Feliz last year and airs on KCET this week, are co-producers of the film.

Less than a month after the disturbances, touched off by the verdicts in the cases of the officers charged with beating Rodney King, a group of professional filmmakers and actors linked up with 25 black and Hispanic students between the ages of 9 and 21. They were participants in a L.A. Cities in School program based at 112th Street and Central Avenue in Watts.

The youths were given video cameras and, assisted by filmmakers Jim Chambers and Hal Hisey and actors Vondie Curtis-Hall, Darnell Williams, Kasi Lemmons, Virginia Madsen and others, they taped what they saw and knew. They focused on not only the kids’ reactions to the riots but also on their family, friends, the police and the gang truce between the Crips and the Bloods.

The young filmmakers were told “to shoot footage of what you feel would tell your best part of the film,” says director Chambers, who says he was amazed by the youths’ thirst to learn.

“I was astonished at how brilliant and how hopeful and how hungry and how curious and how needy they were,” he says from New York, where he is editing a new film.

Viewers may be surprised by the revelations made possible when these kids speak directly to the camera without the sound-bite quality of the evening news.

There’s Cleophas Jackson, a grade-schooler with a microphone who interviews his classmates with the ease of a seasoned moderator. In his review last year, The Times’ Peter Rainer writes, “In the end, when he talks about how he wants to become attorney general when he grows up, you can’t think of a finer candidate.”

“112th and Central” attempts to give the gangs a human face along with showing the riots from a kid’s viewpoint. Kartoon, an ex-gang member, recites his rap poetry and describes his feelings right after the riots. Dewayne Holmes talks about why he organized the Crips-Blood truce.

During the riots, Chambers says, “There were so many news crews that showed up to grab some fast footage and a quick quote and dash off, that at first (the youths) thought we were a news crew who would do the same thing.

“One complaint they had was that their community is only portrayed in garish crises: drive-by shoot-ups, fires, death and not much else about the life and vibrancy and the hope and the spirits who live there,” the director says.

Filming “112th and Central” took six months and another six months was spent in post-production.

“112th and Central” airs Friday at 11 p.m. on KCET. For ages 10 and up.

Another Family Show

The Animaniacs take a romp through American history in a special President’s Day episode of Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs (Monday 4-4:30 p.m. Fox). In the tradition of the popular “Wakko’s World,” Wakko is challenged to recite all 50 states and their capitals to music in “Wakko’s America.” The Warners help Abe Lincoln write the Gettysburg Address in “Four Score and Seven Migraines Ago.” In “The Flame,” the tip of a candle comes to life and plays an important part in the birth of America. For ages 2 to 8.