‘G-Dog,’ profile of Father Gregory Boyle, to open Docurama series

Father Gregory Boyle is many things to many people, but he’s perhaps best known as the founder of L.A.’s own Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the country. Over the last two decades, the Jesuit priest and native Angeleno has worked to provide former gang members and at-risk youths a way out, according to his motto, “Jobs not jails.”

Freida Lee Mock’s new documentary portrait of Boyle, “G-Dog,” takes its title from Boyle’s local nickname and follows him and as he tries to keep Homeboy afloat during a period of economic hardship.

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Thursday night, “G-Dog” will kick off Cinedigm’s new seven-week Docurama film series, which will showcase seven documentaries in theaters nationwide, including several in the Southland.

“G-Dog” will screen Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Laemmle theaters in Santa Monica, Claremont, North Hollywood, Pasadena and Encino, and again on Saturday at 11 a.m. The screenings will be paired with Heloisa Passos’ three-minute documentary “Panmela Castro,” about the eponymous Brazilian women’s-rights activist.

Boyle and Mock will also participate in a Q&A; after Thursday night’s screening at the Laemmle in Santa Monica.

The other films in the Docurama series are “Viva Los Antipados,” “The World Before Her,” “The Fruit Hunters,” “Charge,” “Ping Pong” and “London: The Modern Babylon.”

Tickets for “G-Dog” are available on the Laemmle website. Watch the trailer below.

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