After pushing and grinding for six years, documentary filmmaker Kerri Gawryn will finally see her jewel project come to fruition -her movie, "A Lovely Day" will debut on Oct. 11 at the Grand Lake Theater.

"It feels a little surreal to be finished," Gawryn said. "It's been a long road."

"A Lovely Day" documents nine youth at Oakland High School immersed in a six-month hip hop music therapy workshop.

The premier screening comes after lots of fundraising, shooting footage and editing. 

"The first two years it was pre-production," Gawryn said. "I had an idea that I wanted to do a film about young people and the experiences of young people growing up in the Bay Area."

Then, she met Tomas Alvarez the social worker responsible for a program at Oakland High School called Beats, Rhymes and Life. Alvarez, the founder of Beats Rhymes and Life, pioneered a hip hop therapy program that utilized the process of creating rap music to promote behavioral health among teens.

"It was interesting to me and it felt like it could have a very positive effect on young people," she said. "I was interested in seeing how it all came together and how (Alvarez) used hip hop as a way to provide mental health services and structure group therapy around the art of hip hop, so I decided I want to partner with them."

Gawryn said the students kept her going through the whole process.

"It was four years of filming and I must say the obligation and commitment from the youth highlighted in the film is what kept me working towards getting the film done," she said.

Oaklanders played a huge role in fundraising, Gawryn said.

"It was Oakland people coming together as a community to really get the film done," Garwryn said. "Oakland has been amazing. I love Oakland and making this film has made me love Oakland even more."

Gawryn said that as a documentary filmmaker, it is important to let students take the lead in storytelling.

"You use film as a way for young people to tell their stories, not me telling their stories, but proving a medium for them to tell their stories," she said.

Gawryn said she's glad that her work was a vehicle for the students of the hip hop workshop.

"There are all of these assumptions about young people. As people get older, they forget what its like to be a teenager and I just thought it important to let young people tell their stories and speak for themselves."

Gawryn said that the students wanted to make sure their story got told on a big stage.

"I made a promise to our youth that the Oakland screening would be at the Grand Lake Theater," she said.