Slam: The Book

A 1998 Sundance Film Festival winner, "Slam"--set in a war-zone housing project known as Dodge City and in the infamous Washington, D.C., city jail--presents a gritty, inspiring portrait of urban poverty and the redemptive power of art. The book includes the full screenplay, poetry from the film, behind-the-scenes diaries, and more.

Directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker Marc Levin, Slam came in under the radar to become the surprise hit of Sundance. A gritty, inspiring portrait of urban poverty and the redemptive power of art, "Slam . . . seizes hold of your imagination", wrote Sundance juror Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. "It's the kind of movie that makes you believe in movies".

Set in a war-zone housing project known as Dodge City and in the infamous Washington, D.C., city jail, Slam tells the story of Ray Joshua, a talented young poet and rapper who is busted on petty drug charges and sucked into the black hole of the criminal justice system. In jail, Ray meets Lauren, a volunteer teaching a writing class for prisoners. She encourages Ray m use his gift to give voice to the anguish of a generation of young men who have been thrown away.

Slam: The Book is more than just a screenplay. It also contains the poetry featured in the film, as well as behind-the-scenes filmmakers' and actors' diaries telling the story of the making of Slam in a two-week guerrilla shoot inside the walls of the D.C. jail and on the killing streets of the Anacostia housing projects in southeast Washington, D.C.