I am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Documentary and widely celebrated as an HBO premiere, I AM A PROMISE has been applauded by The New York Times as a "strong documentary... unsparing yet tender." Directed by the innovative, award-winning team of Alan and Susan Raymond ("An American Family"), I AM A PROMISE paints an unflinching verité portrait of the children of Stanton Elementary School in North Philadelphia, an inner-city neighborhood where 90% of the students live below the poverty line. As seen through the viewpoint of devoted principal Deanna Burney, the film shows Stanton as underfunded, understaffed, and filled with children struggling to overcome their difficulties. For these at-risk kids, the only hope for their future survives only in the success of their education. Astoundingly relevant today, I AM A PROMISE imparts a poignantly captivating series of vignettes concerning children growing up outside the American dream, echoing current urban-education issues in our country's ongoing political discussion.