It’s a wonderful winter here and a perfect start to this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The festival received over 1,400 submissions and only 112 of them are features that were selected to be shown. For this year, 10 teens from all three of Planned Parenthood’s Teen Council’s are participating in the festival. These teens will be watching films, conducting interviews, participating in panel discussions, and blogging about it all! This year the following films will be blogged about:
The Infiltrators
SHARE
Gaza
This Is Personal
Maiden
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I am
Ask Dr. Ruth
Pahokee
Words From A Bear
Midnight Traveler Knock Down the House
Birth of The Cool
Some teens bloggers will also the chance to participate in the Vr cinematic experience that is featured in this year’s festival. These 10 teens come from a wide array of high schools within the Valley and Park City. To learn more about this year’s phenomenal group of teens, via the “Meet the Team” page on the website. Another way to keep up with bloggers is to follow the tumblr page or look for links on any PPAU website!
The film, Pahokee, describes the daily life and activity in the small town of Pahokee, Florida. The low income town is 56% African American and almost all the rest are LatinX. The film gives a first person perspective of residents in the city, which allows you to travel into the homes of some of the residents of the city and see what their home lives are like. The movie crew even gave some of the students new phones to record and blog their daily experiences in terms of school, home, and social lives.
A large part of the film focused in on Pahokee High School’s football team and their run to win the state championship. The movie documented the whole season and the hard work they put into their well deserved championship.
The state championship was not only a huge win for the students on their way to college, but it boosted the morale of town writ large. Adults were approaching the players and thanking them for ‘saving the town’. This emphasizes the magnitude of the just the state championship on the town. It also cemented the reputation that Pahokee has — as a breeding ground for NFL stars. Stars like Anquan Boldin also made a surprise showing in the film, attending the high school graduation.
Unfortunately, the school was stripped of their state title that year due to a processing error regarding a transfer player who was ineligible. Even in the face of this, the town knew in their hearts that their local Pahokee High School went undefeated and earned that title.
There was another event in the movie that was quite significant. The camera team was recoding an Easter egg hunt at a local park when there were shots fired. The shooting forced the children and their parents to stay on the ground in hopes of not being shot, which reiterates psychological pain. This was a hard moment for the people affected by the event and the crew shooting the film, as the had to grapple with whether or not they should include this scene in the film. The directors discussed that they decided to include it because shootings are an issue for these communities that is swept under the rug by the media, so pointing out the reality of those situations is a more effective method of creating conversations of how to move beyond instances like this. I would also like to point out that there should be a trigger warning for this sometime before the movie, as experiences such as shootings can be a source of psychological trauma.
One of the directors, Patrick Bresnan, said their goal with the film was to build bridges between different communities and humanize this misunderstood town. Towns like Pahokee have been homogenized through recent rhetoric of the “Anchor Baby” and the “Welfare Queen” that creates the division between the good and the bad minorities. The directors emphasized that the movie was made in aims to deconstruct those binaries and create trust between larger communities. By exposing the daily lives of towns like these, the audience is able to conceptualize how these communities live and humanize them to create an understanding and disrupt pre-conceived notions of race and class.
The movie Share was an intense story about how a girl manages her life after facing sexual assault. The film was able to stay away from the “Hollywood Version” when discussing sexual assault and instead delivered an all too realistic account of the difficulty one can face when seeking justice for themselves in the wake of an assault.
The film begins with Mandy, the main subject of the film, waking up face down in her front yard. She remembers nothing of the night before. Hours later Mandy receives a text from her friend asking “Is this you?!”. Attached is a video. In it, Mandy is passed out on a bathroom floor with a crowd of boys huddled around her and… More begin to surface as Mandy looks for answers, but no one is confessing.
Days later Mandy’s parents find the videos on her laptop and demand she go to the police, despite her cries to remain silent. They want justice for their daughter, as do the audience, as do the Hollywood film critics, but that is not how many sexual assault stories end. In fact, around three out of four sexual assaults go unreported in the United States according to the Bureau of Justice National Crime Victimization Survey.
Justice comes in many forms. For Mandy, it was to find out what really happened that night. But she needed to do this on her own, not with the police. Many people believe if someone has the resources to come forward they should and this goes to show that often times the needs of sexual assault victims are pushed to the side. The process of coming forward can be traumatizing and in many cases, such as Mandy’s, it can cause even more harm to the person who faced the assault.
Mandy’s parents and the audience need to listen to Mandy and accept her decisions. To everyone but Mandy, this may seem like accepting defeat, but to her this was the best way in which she could heal. Even after Mandy receives the last video, the one needed to put the man who assaulted her in jail, the one she has been searching for throughout the entire film, she deletes it. She found her answer and for Mandy discovering what really occurred is all she wants. She took control of her narrative, something not many assault victims are able to do.
This film, although difficult to watch, needs to be seen. The truth about how sexual assaults are dealt with needs to be shared. The story doesn’t always have a “happy ending” or closure, but it should. As a community, we all need to work to alter our society so that more closure can occur. Really, we should work so that people don’t have to search for closure to begin with; that should be a right for every citizen, but currently, it is a privilege.
As a peer education for Teen Council I will support, empower and advocate for those who have experiences sexual assault through my teachings and individual outreach work.
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. Every year 1.5 million teenagers in the United States experience physical abuse their partner according to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. This statistic does not include mental abuse which often goes unnoticed among teenagers and adults. If you would like to get involved, want to learn more about domestic abuse, or want to report an incident you can talk to any Teen Council member, any Planned Parenthood employee, download the Safe UT app (if you live in Utah), or visit nrcdv.org.
Inspired,proud, and wanting to read by: Lessly Izquierdo
Toni Morrison ; The Pieces I am starts off with various pictures of Toni and different pieces of paper being rearrange. The different colors and patterns of paper, as well as the age differences in the photos of Toni being used was truly captivating. Entering the film I knew nothing about Toni Morrison. However, upon leaving the theater it made me feel so intrigued about her experiences, and her literature. My fellow bloggers and I wanted to rush to the nearest bookstore to get all her books.
This film focused mainly on Toni’s professional life. It showed how she began writing, and the where the inspiration came from for her books. The Bluest Eyes inspiration stood out to me a lot. In the film, Toni talked about how a childhood friend of hers didn’t believe in god because she had prayed to have blue, but it never came true.This experience stayed with her, the experience of intense hatred to people of color especially black people to hate their features because they didn't look white. Toni was unapologetic for writing about black characters.This brought her backlash from white people feeling as if they were being portrayed inaccurate. That was just the focus of her books, to disprove that black lives weren't for the white people's gaze.
In the film, she talked about how no matter how amazing her work was, it was always referred back to being amazing, coming from a black author. There were many times her work wasn’t seen as legit because she was black. There were various harsh white critics when Beloved had won a Nobel prize. The film showed how long it took for people to even recognize her for awards that were well deserved. She knew those awards were well deserved yet refused to ask for them.
This documentary truly showed Toni Morrison as the amazing writer she is. Leaving this film, I had gained that knowledge on her books and how they were a part of her life. How it was being black author in a mainly white dominated career. The way she felt about her works and the critics about her. Over all, her true iconism of being a women of color and achieving so many grand things.
Youth Activism Is Trendy and Powerful by: Catalina Barraza
First things first, “Infiltrators” directed by Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera will ignite the rebellious activist inside you. This film is half documentary and half dramatized to get scenes from inside the detention center located in Florida at The Broward Transitional Center. It stars undocumented Mohammad (Mo) Abdollahi, Marco Saavedra, and Viridiana (Viri) Martinez who were not trying to break out of the detention center but trick the guards , to put them in.
All three young adults are apart of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, A group that brought legislature attention to the DREAM act. They have stopped plenty of deportations before this scheme and have done many after. What sparked this idea was when Marco heard of a man Claudio Rojas who was detained while taking out his trash. Marco and soon later Viri
1.) Fool the guards into detaining them
2.) Give detainees a phone number to call to help get their case to the media to hopefully get enough attention to get released.
3.) Then get themselves released.
From a young activist watching this, it was inspiring.The film had so many lingering takeaways about family, youth, and the power of being undocumented and unafraid. The Q&A was full of the directors, some of the cast and crew but most importantly Mo and Viri. It opened up topics about immigration reform , what can our politicians do to help , how can we help, what’s the next step? The Q&A was filled with answers for the future, Viridiana is going to be a lobbyist at D.C this summer , Mohammad runs the Detentionlifeline.org which is where anyone in the states can call to get help for someone they know who has been detained. The future seems bright, but we still have work to do.
As Mo said “Hold Democrats accountable , they say they are our friends , prove to us you are”. The Q&A was feisty in all the right ways by calling out politicians for using words to gain specifically the Latinx vote. Obama formed DACA but left the parents of those undocumented students stranded when they needed help to keep their family together. “Immigration is a hot topic since Trump has been elected” - Mohammad Abdollahi. The 2016 election may not be so bad after all because people care more about immigrants than ever before. When things aren’t being oppressed to drastic levels , such as children being ripped away from parents arms and put in cages, people just look the other way. Since the mass missing children , immigration reform is a popular subject, It was one of biggest factors on electing people for office for the midterm elections 2018. Real people call out the fake ones, this is exactly what Mo and Viri were doing.
To conclude , meeting Mohammad and Viridiana was a star struck experience. It was fuel to my burning flame to speak my truth and never be afraid. I hope this film encourages other youth to get involved and do something. We are the future and we decide how it’s gonna be right NOW!!
Gaza is an incredibly well done film about the plight and lives of the almost 2 million people who live along the Gaza Strip. The film manages to portray the lives of people living in the isolation and hardship within the borders of the Gaza strip with clarity and a depth that is unique among the two-dimensional profile
that is shown by media and governments. In the film, there is an array of people interviewed, from a small boy to a paramedic. The film shows not only the sadness and tragedy of the situation, but also the ways that people are able to remain happy and the everyday parts of life that everyone can relate to. Parties, music, dreams, and everyday conversation brings life into this movie and creates a narrative that makes you wonder why there has been relatively no international action or even much coverage on what is happening
within the borders of the Gaza Strip.
While talking to the directors of the film, it is apparent that they wanted to show a very a-political view on the siege. Being in Palestine and talking to the people, the directors said that the public opinion is not focused on a specific political group and instead are angry at the world for forcing them to live as they are by not stepping in or enacting change. Everyone is to blame who is complicit in the global isolation and ignorance that allows the people of Palestine to die for fighting for their freedom or. The tragedy shown in the film is, in my opinion, well balanced with the stories of the people. It is an incredible film that will send you through a gauntlet of emotions and hopefully educate you as to what is happening on the Gaza Strip.
Dr Ruth: Teaching Us More Than Just Sex by: Thea Soter
The film, “Ask Dr. Ruth,” premiered for the first time this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah as a part of the Sundance film festival documentary series. Having been born long after the height of her popularity, I was not familiar with the diminutive sex Doctor. Still, moments into the documentary, I found myself smiling back at her warm, bright, charismatic face that was filling the cinema screen. Through her adorable German accent, and past her very contagious little smile, Dr. Ruth unfolds her tragic, exciting, inspirational life. Over the span of two hours she teaches the viewer truths about how to achieve sexual desires and other secrets to enjoying a happy life. Ruth started on the radio and before she knew it, the world knew her name. From radio, she moved on to talk shows; to her own television show; to having an entire motion picture made about the iconic sex expert.
Dr. Ruth uses her humor to explain, in her words, “how to have a better orgasm”. It’s a little bit comical watching her talk about such things, but clearly, she knows her stuff. Her central aim though isn’t the sex, rather, it’s to simply living the best life one can, in every way one can, and you leave the theater convinced, that she has achieved this end.
The film, directed by Ryan White, shows Ruth as a small child tragically taken from her mother and father and sent to an orphanage in the foreign country of Switzerland as a result of the holocaust during WWII. The film then flashes back to the 90-year-old woman that the world knows today. The film is intertwined with beautiful animation telling the story parallel to Ruth about her childhood to the world of young adulthood, full of sexual curiosities. The animation is a device that is used to soften the story and enables the viewer to better access her childhood and persona.
Ruth had a turbulent childhood full of heartbreak, sadness, and loneliness, so as soon as she was able, she set out on a hunt for love, passion, and everything from life which she didn’t know she would ever find. She found herself in the arms of two different men and in a completely different country before finding the love of her life while skiing with her 2-year-old daughter. This is only a taste of the fun, light-hearted, happy individual that we know as Dr. Ruth. So, how did she do it? How did she triumph over the pain of her reality to become a powerful, successful, exceptionally happy woman known worldwide? I found that she did this by living everyday to the fullest, always stopping to smell the flowers, and by never depriving herself of a good laugh along the way. Dr Ruth never sweats the small stuff and in return leads a big life.
Being a sex ed. Peer educator, along with a young woman, I applaud Dr. Ruth. Despite hardships she defied the stigmas of the word “sex” and taught America it was okay to live a great life in every aspect, just as she did. Ruth is a trailblazer for a world where people are comfortable with their sexuality, sexually safe, pleasured, and exceptionally happy Dr. Ruth’s smile put a smile on my face the moment I saw her, what kept it there throughout the film was the resilience, courage, honesty and strength of the one and only, Dr. Ruth.
Maiden: To Light a Spark in Young Eyes by: Lupita Mendez
A story that started with the spark in a young girl’s eyes, Maiden, serves as not only a film to inspire women out there, but also those who have been told they aren’t enough. A fire in the sea from the spark in young eyes.
Maiden follows the story of Tracy Edwards, the skipper of the first all-women’s sailing team to compete in the Whitbread Round the World Race. Edwards started out as a misfit teenager on board a boat with others like herself. There she learned her way around the world of sailing and became fascinated by it. So fascinated that despite not having a fond interest in cooking, she begged a sailing boat, competing in the Whitbread Round the World Race, to allow her to be on as their cook. Her only way as a woman to participate. Though she was treated quite harshly, nothing could make her love for the sea and art of sailing falter. Following this experience, she had a thought.
If they wouldn’t let her on the boat without degrading her as a mere cook. Then she would get her own boat to compete with.
From there a great voyage began. She searched for crew members, finding some of the strongest and capable young women. She labored for enough money to buy a rusted boat, which her and the crew fixed up themselves. And she found a sponsor for her team after searching for so long, as no one would fund something so controversial as an “all-women’s sailing team.”
Finally, after all of this, they were able to compete. And though they did place high and win first place in one leg, what truly mattered to the crew was the generous amount of support from the people. What truly mattered was that they had followed their ambitions and achieved their wildest dreams.
Throughout the film, old interviews and footage of the women were used to tell the story. And seeing the original footage first hand made the experience all the more memorable. The director himself, Alex Holmes, even mentioned that it was incredible that there was so much footage from the event as it was uncommon for people to film most things during the time.
In fact, Alex Holmes first heard of the story when he saw Edwards giving a talk at his daughter’s elementary school.
“As I sat there I was really struck by the fact that my daughter was gonna face obstacles, that people in this cast were gonna face huge obstacles. And that she was telling a story that reminded everybody that if you are committed. If you really believe in yourself. And if you surround yourself with other people who believe in you. Then you can achieve great things,” said Holmes about his thoughts about the film’s message.
Truly this film served to show us a pure example of grit translating into success and the achievement of what is thought as impossible. A film to create that spark in another young person’s eyes.
