Raised by Wolves

Editor // 1h17m // 2023

Raised by Wolves is a feature length documentary by Dana Coester and Joel Beeson. I was editor, reporter and cinematographer on this film. Trailer and description below. Yet unreleased.

Raised By Wolves peers into online youth culture in Appalachia, revealing the risks of radicalization through exposure to weaponized memes and far right extremism in social media and online gaming spaces, documenting the escalation of violence as it unfolds in real time - and close to home. A series of personal stories of affected community members unfolds against the backdrop of an opioid traumatized, post-industrial landscape, as experts unpack the systemic nature of a problem rooted in our times, our tech and our history. Raised by Wolves is anchored by the filmmakers’ personal narrative - as journalists, part of an Appalachian Muslim family and parents to five children, four of whom are boys. The story is also rooted in the filmmaker’s past, growing up in poverty in the Ozarks, now investigating susceptibility to domestic violent extremism through the lens of rural shame.