DJ Hale as Tyler in Rescued.

Join us for a panel talk in the LBFF FilmLounge on Sunday at 4:15pm. The Long Beach Film Festival presents a post-screening conversation that blurs the line between fiction and the street-level reality it echoes. Rescued director DJ Hale joins Brett Feldman (Director of Street Medicine, Keck USC), Victoriah Bech Parker (Skid Row non-profit Starts With One Today), Kristine Cox (Long Beach Community Table) and Madeline (a formerly unhoused resident of Skid Row), inviting audiences to step beyond the screen and into the lived reality that inspired the movie, offering a rare moment where art and truth sit side by side.

BRETT FELDMAN | DIR. OF STREET MEDICINE, KECK USC

Brett J. Feldman, MSPAS, PA-C, is the Director and co-founder of USC Street Medicine and is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine. Mr. Feldman is the outgoing Vice Chair of the Street Medicine Institute and has practiced street medicine since 2007.In Mr. Feldman’s role with USC and the Street Medicine Institute, he participated in the establishment or expansion of over 150 street medicine programs internationally. He has led advocacy efforts to integrate street medicine into mainstream healthcare while keeping its values and philosophy intact.Mr. Feldman’s work has been featured on the BBC, Channel News Asia, Washington Post, LA Times, CNN, the Associated Press, and other outlets across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. A PBS documentary featuring Brett and the street medicine program which he founded, Close to Home: Street Medicine, won an Emmy award in 2018.

DJ HALE | DIR. “RESCUED”

Rescued is a story of empathy born from a period of profound personal darkness. While I was struggling with loss and financial instability, a simple human gesture from a homeless man forced me to re-examine my perspective. His act of shared humanity, in the face of his own hardships, became the creative spark for this film. I realized that even when we feel we have nothing left to give, a moment of connection can reignite our sense of purpose.Homelessness is more than statistics — it is lived experience, full of trauma, isolation, and survival. It is everywhere, can happen to anybody — at any time. But even in the harshest circumstances, there is room for connection, loyalty, and love — no matter how far down the abyss you've fallen.I chose to anchor this story in the bond between a man and a dog because animals have a unique ability to break down barriers we build around ourselves. Tyler doesn’t believe he deserves redemption — but Angel does, and that forces Tyler to fight for more than his own survival.Rescued is not just a film about homelessness, but about the profound resilience that comes from unexpected connections. By shining a light on the bond between Tyler and Angel, the film serves as a powerful reminder to open our hearts to those we might otherwise overlook. There’s a chance for redemption in all of us—so long as the spark is ignited.

MADELEINE | FORMERLY UNHOUSED

Madeline has lived through homelessness and addiction on Skid Row, experiencing firsthand the challenges and humanity behind the statistics. Through resilience and determination, she has pursued recovery, healing, and rebuilding her life. Her lived experience gives her a vital perspective on the barriers people face, including trauma, mental health challenges, poverty, addiction, unstable housing, and limited access to support. She is passionate about advocating for vulnerable people and animals and believes those experiencing homelessness deserve dignity, compassion, accountability, and meaningful assistance.

KRISTEN COX | EXECUTIVE DIR. LONG BEACH COMMUNITY TABLE

Kristen Cox has been a lifelong activist, with a masters in Clinical Psychology, and has led many large and successful volunteer organizations. Her interest

in social justice has had her traveling most of the country, trying to help people in difficult predicaments, like survivors of two separate hurricanes, and indigenous people fighting oil pipelines. Her concern for the community has always been apparent in her actions, whether on the frontline or behind the scenes. Through her activism, she determined that alternative systems of supporting the community, especially in disadvantaged demographics, were becoming necessary. In 2017, she began to work toward creating a worker's cooperative that would benefit any and all in need and that has become Long Beach Community Table. She is grateful to have connected with so many incredible people, which have created a very successful team that truly cares about the dignity and sustainability of the community.

VICTORIAH BECH PARKER | STARTS WITH ONE DAY

Victoriah and Jonathan came to their shared purpose from very different places, but both know what it means to lose the life you thought you were going to have, and to make the decision to build something new from what remains.

Several years ago, Victoriah nearly lost her life. After a long, grueling hospital stay, she came home to find that almost everything she once believed defined her; her career, relationships, and stability- had fallen away.

When you lose everything, something shifts. You can let it break you. Or you can let it wake you up.

Victoriah chose to rebuild, and somewhere in that rebuilding, she found her purpose: helping other people rebuild their lives, too.

Jonathan grew up in Crenshaw, South Los Angeles, where his environment and the choices he made eventually led to 15 years of incarceration. While inside, he made a decision that he wasn’t going to become another statistic. He used those years to grow, build discipline, learn real skills, and decide who he wanted to be. He promised himself that if he got another chance, he would come home better — and help other men do the same.

Their paths eventually brought them both to Skid Row.

Victoriah began going there in 2017, feeding and clothing unhoused residents, building relationships with families, and eventually creating a weekly preschool for children experiencing homelessness. Jonathan’s connection to Skid Row became personal after seeing a family member struggling with homelessness there. He didn’t want to simply hear about what was happening on those streets. He wanted to see it himself.

It was on Skid Row that Victoriah and Jonathan met.

Two people rebuilding their own lives found each other while trying to help others rebuild theirs.

Today, Victoriah and Jonathan are married, and that shared purpose has become the foundation of the life they have built together.

They co-founded Starts With One Today, rooted in a simple belief: change doesn’t start big. It starts with one — one person, one act, one decision.

Together, they serve residents of Skid Row, mentor youth in South Los Angeles, provide food, clothing, and essentials, organize community outreach, and rescue and rehabilitate neglected animals living on the streets.

They also created Find A Purpose, a transitional home in South Los Angeles for men coming out of incarceration, providing safe housing, clothing, guidance, and real support as they transition back into society.

Their work is deeply personal because both of them understand, in very different ways, what it means to need another chance.

They believe your past does not get to decide your future. They believe cycles can be broken and purpose can come from pain. They believe no person — or animal — is disposable.

And above all, Victoriah and Jonathan share one belief that guides everything they do:

Every person you meet is someone’s somebody.

Together, they have made it their purpose to remind people that no matter where they have been or what they have survived, their story is not over.