The Chosen Few MC is the first multiracial outlaw motorcycle club in America, having been founded by Lionel Ricks in 1959 and integrated in 1960.

Shot between 2011 and 2014, Take None Give None chronicles some of the Chosen Few’s most turbulent years when change in leadership threatened the club’s stability.  This crisis was aggravated by a crackdown from federal and local law enforcement, which resulted in raids on their clubhouse at 108th Street and Broadway in South Central Los Angeles.

Members are longshoremen and machinists; schoolteachers and mechanics; war veterans and ex-gang members. For decades, they have congregated under a common goal of liberty, brotherhood, and unrestricted admission to the roadways of Southern California. Club members have earned the respect of their peers and been branded criminals by local and federal authorities.

Fascinated by the cultures of East L.A. and South Central, Gusmano Cesaretti has been documenting the neighborhoods of Los Angeles since 1970.

In 2011, he partnered with photographer Kurt Mangum and some professional cinematographers to create an in-depth portrait of this community of bikers in South Central.

Take None Give None depicts places where outsiders are not allowed, such as nighttime rides through L.A.’s expansive freeway system and inside the group’s hallowed clubhouse, located in the shadows of the Watts Towers.

In lieu of the more commonly used strategy of voiceover narration, the docu allows the voices of the club to speak freely, thus offering an unfiltered look at what it means to be a member of the Chosen Few.

Credits

Directed by Gusmano Cesaretti, with Kurt Mangum.

Produced by Bruno Sère, Gusmano Cesaretti and Kurt Mangum.

Running time: 82 minutes.