“Rich Hill,” a new documentary on growing up poor, now, in rural America. The dreams and the desperation.

Across Missouri from troubled Ferguson, there’s another kind of trouble. White, rural, small town poverty. As tough as any you’ll find. Not in the news, but heartrendingly portrayed in a prize-winning Sundance documentary this year called “Rich Hill.” Three boys growing up threadbare in a fallen coal town. Struggling to find their footing, themselves, a future on the ragged edge of the American economy. Andrew, Harley, Appache. Their stories will break your heart. This hour, On Point: young, poor and forgotten. Plus, we’ll check in on Ferguson.

- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Tracy Droz Tragos, director and producer of "Rich Hill." (@TracyDrozTragos)

Andrew Droz Palermo, director, producer, and cinematographer of "Rich Hill." (@DrozPalermo)

Beth Mattingly, director of research on vulnerable families at the University of New Hampshire. Researcher at the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality.

From Tom's Reading List

The Washington Post: ‘Rich Hill’ movie review: Dead ends and dreams deferred - "...the movie’s subjects aren’t especially likable all the time. Yet even these three boys, as difficult as their circumstances — and occasionally their personalities — may be, evince a kind of potential to turn things around that is almost, despite all evidence to the contrary, inspirational."

San Jose Mercury News: Review: 'Rich Hill' humanizes rural poverty in America - "Documentary filmmakers Tracy Droz Tragos and Andrew Droz Palermo try to bring these numbers home in Rich Hill, which this year won the grand jury prize for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Instead of focusing on the problem in urban areas, Rich Hill looks at a much larger population, America's rural poor."

Huffington Post: Helping Children in Hidden Rural Poverty - "But in a nation where over 16 million children, more than one in five, are poor, the plain truth is that child poverty is pervasive and affects children everywhere although we know it affects urban, suburban, and rural children in some ways differently."

Closing Segment: Checking In on Ferguson

Patricia Bynes, Democratic committeewoman for Ferguson Township, MO. (@Patricialicious)