The winner of the 2008 SXSW Audience award for best narrative feature, Explicit Ills weaves a dense urban tapestry chronicling a diverse group of lower class Americans struggling to make it in the W years. The plight of the poor is a subject close to heart of writer/director Mark Webber.

Rosario Dawson

"These are real people to me. I grew up extremely poor," the 28 year-old Webber says. Raised by a single mother, Webber was homeless for a couple of years growing up in Philadelphia. His own story has a reversal of fortune straight out of a fairy tale—he became a working actor while still a teenager and has gone on to star in a slew of successful independent films including Jesus' Son, Storytelling and Broken Flowers . Despite his change in circumstances, he hasn't forgotten his roots.

Explicit Ills was shot and set in his hometown. "It was great shooting in Philly. The film is about stories from my own personal life. I wrote for a lot of specific locations that I knew. The city itself is like a character in a film -- it was the glue that bonded everything together."

The seemingly unrelated narratives in Explicit Ills , which tell the stories of a young mother struggling without health insurance for her angelic young son (the excellent Francisco Burgos), a pair of young druggie artists walking the line between bohemia and squalor, a black couple trying to open a health food store in the 'hood, and a would-be thug adolescent who changes his ways to win a girl, are not tied together in the end by far-fetched coincidences a la Crash. When the characters finally come together at a protest march demanding basic rights for the poor, the climax feels both shocking and true.

Francisco Burgos

"The movement depicted in the film is a real life movement ," Webber says, "The march in the film was a real march...it was actually the only thing the city wouldn't give us a permit for. So we just marched. My mom is now an activist for rights to housing, education, jobs with a living wage, and healthcare. We don't see these people's stories. Slumdog Millionaire is a great example of romanticizing the poor in Third World countries. I'm frustrated by it. People don't recognize what's happening in their own back yard. I wanted to address the issues that are going on, that affect us here in America. With the economy the way it is...well let's just say that this film was made more than a year ago and it feels more relevant now."

Though the cast features such rising stars as Rosario Dawson and Paul Dano, most of the actors were unknowns. "We wanted to open it up to kids in the neighborhood. We had a huge open call and saw over 900 kids. It was great, because the casting director we used was the same one who first cast me when I was 17 and had been kicked out of school. In end, the ones we used blew me away every day on the set."

Paul Dano, Rosario Dawson, Mark Webber & more...

Webber drew inspiration from the directors he's worked with in the past, especially indie titan Jim Jarmusch, who served as executive producer on the film. "Jarmusch is a walking encyclopedia of art and culture. Working with him as actor [on Broken Flowers] was incredible. He gave me great feedback on the script. He was like a godfather to the film. I felt he would really protect me in keeping my vision intact. He has done things his way for the entirety of his career. It was a huge blessing on his part to lend his name and stamp of approval to the film.

"I think independent film is extremely important. It's a bizarre phenomenon what that has come to mean these days. If you're lucky enough to make a film and find a distributor you get into this weird realm where art meets commerce. I think you just have to remain true to yourself as an artist. All I've ever known is indie film. I'm doing a huge studio film now, but with an amazing director who has an amazing vision, so it doesn't feel disheartening.

"I hope people have an emotional reaction to the film on some level even if they hate it. I hope they feel something. Ultimately the best would be to inspire people to check out the work my mother does, how they can be of service to their community and to humanity."

Explicit Ills screens from March 6th through March 12th at the Angelika Film Center in New York.