Film chronicles family overcoming fire, guns, racism

Posted 4/25/18

Here are a few of the local residents who appear in “Quest,” a stunning documentary that premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and can be seen Sunday, April 29, 2 p.m., at Greene …

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Film chronicles family overcoming fire, guns, racism

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Here are a few of the local residents who appear in “Quest,” a stunning documentary that premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and can be seen Sunday, April 29, 2 p.m., at Greene Street Meeting House, 45 W. Schoolhouse Lane.[/caption]

by Constance Garcia-Barrio

If the kids on Judson Street hadn’t been skilled roof jumpers, Christopher Rainey, a.k.a. Quest, would not have lived to marry, raise children and have his tale told in a documentary that premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.

“It was 1970, and I was two years old when my folks’ house on Judson Street caught fire,” said Quest, now 50. “In the ‘70s in North Philly, we played on the roofs, so when our first floor started burning, some neighborhood kids got on the roof of the house next door, jumped to ours and climbed in a window of the second-floor, where my crib was. They got me out before the house burned up.”

It’s as if Quest ever since, along with his wife Christine’a, has embodied courage and a sense of community, two values that saved his life all those years ago.

The Raineys’ struggles and modesty seem to make them unlikely subjects for a documentary. Quest worked at a Toys R Us for years until racism took too heavy a toll. He switched to doing carpentry, much of it in Northwest Philly. “I worked with Edward Hunter of Germantown,” Quest said. “We restored decorative woodwork on porches, and we remodeled interiors. I like building things.”

Quest also delivered store circulars in Germantown to make ends meet. In addition, Christine’a worked at a shelter to keep the household afloat. “We’ve struggled,” she said, “but we never had any utility shut off.”

“Not that there aren’t things we’d like to do, like fix our front steps,” Quest said.

When the Raineys became a couple in 1997, the family they formed included children from previous relationships, many of them teenagers. “We have eight biological children, but altogether 13 kids call us mom and dad,” Christine’a said. Everyone got along, but she and Quest worried. “The kids were getting out in the streets,” she said. The Raineys wanted to reel them back in.

Quest drew on the family’s strengths. “We’re a creative family,” he said. “Some of the kids paint and draw. Others sing and work as DJs.” Using his carpentry skills, Quest built a recording studio. “It gave our kids a place to go. They began telling their friends about it, and soon their friends started coming by, not just to record rap but also to consult us about their problems. We’re not psychologists or psychiatrists. Mostly, we just listened.”

Quest did more than that to grow his community of hip hop artists. “I would go to the angry guys on the corner, some of the bullies and drug dealers,” said Quest, an ordained Baptist minister. “You have to talk with them, find out why they’re angry. Lots of times they don’t have a home life, no guidance. But these guys command respect. Once I got them to come over, other guys followed. Like the Pied Piper.”

Enter filmmaker Jon Olshefski. Quest’s brother James was taking Olshefski’s photography class nearby. After one class, James asked Olshefski if he wanted to see a homemade music studio. “James brought him by in 2006.” Olshefski began taking still pictures of the Raineys and the rappers. He switched to film in 2007.

“None of us knew that the filming would go on for 10 years,” Quest said. “If I’d known, I might not have gotten into it, but Jon and I became friends over that time. He spent some nights here, ate with us, slept on the sofa. We got so that we didn’t notice him, like a fly on the wall.”

Olshefski filmed some of the Raineys tough times. Christine’a cared for her grandson Isaiah while her son received chemotherapy for brain cancer.

A horrific blow came on Sunday, June 9, 2013, when the Raineys’ daughter Patricia, or P.J., got shot. “I was coming home from playing basketball,” said P.J., who’s composed music from the time she was small. “Some guys were arguing over a dirt bike. One of them pulled a gun and fired.”

The bullet flew two blocks and hit P.J.’s left eye. Surgeons removed the eye the day P.J. would have taken part in her 8th grade graduation ceremony. “I was terrified of going outside for a while,” she said. Composing rhythm and blues and recording it in the studio helped during her time indoors. P.J. recently graduated from Constitution High School, a small college-prep school. She’ll start Rowan University this fall and major in the music industry.

Quest’s work has borne fruit in several ways. His children have prospered. Some of the young men who started coming to the studio in their teens continue to return in their 30s. A few have become well-known rappers. Others have become stable family men, thanks to the studio, which has added a microphone booth and engineering room. A pool table, video games and graffiti-style wall art also attract young people. “Guys come here from North Philly, Germantown, New York and New Jersey,” Quest said.

Olshefski’s film, edited from 400 hours down to one hour and 45 minutes, has won praise. He received a $100,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation to complete the project, which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and earned top honors at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

“I feel privileged to travel around the country with Jon, showing the film and answering questions.” Quest said. “I love North Philadelphia. It’s my home, my roots. I hope the film heals divisions that people see that wherever we live, we’re all human.”

The screening of the film will be on Sunday, April 29, 2 p.m., at Greene Street Meeting House, 45 W. Schoolhouse Lane. There will be a Q&A with members of the Rainey family following the film. The event is a fundraiser for the annual Black Liberation and Community Development Workshop. More info: www.facebook.com/events/192516871362705/.

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