Sixteen: Pepa's Fight

Executive Produced by Rory Kennedy and Liz Garbus
Produced and Directed by Nick Doob and Molly O'Brien

In Pepa's Fight, we meet Sanipepa "Pepa" Malimali, a sixteen-year old Tongan-American from East Palo Alto High in California. Her early teen years, characterized by hard luck and a "secret too painful to reveal," have left her addicted to fighting, a "nasty" habit that often places her at odds with the law. Soon after we catch up with her, in mid rumble, she's on her way to Juvenile Hall.

A few months later, after having had "plenty of time to think," Pepa gets her freedom, and a choice: either get involved in something useful, or go back to jail. An after-school filmmaking program gives her an opportunity for introspection and a forum to express her complex emotions. We follow her on a trip back to Tonga that gives her the chance to re-connect with her roots, and to figure out how to forge an identity for herself that's true to all of her experiences.