Harmed & Dangerous follows Bay Area youth facing felony charges through a first-of-its-kind experiment: restorative justice. The film takes a character-driven, vérité approach to observe this alternative to incarceration and raise questions about punishment, the promise of restorative justice, and whether the intervention it offers is sufficient to create meaningful change for under-resourced youth.

Vanessa is an independent cinematographer and documentary filmmaker based in San Francisco. She has shot for Al Jazeera, the Center for Investigative Reporting, PBS and Showtime. Vanessa holds a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. She also co-organizes Backyard Films, a pop-up screening series featuring Bay Area short films.