Teached
Teached | |
---|---|
Directed by | Kelly Amis |
Produced by | Kelly Amis |
Music by |
Asparagus Studios Michael Harris |
Edited by |
Kate Stilley Steiner Sergei Krasikov Kelly Amis |
Production company |
Loudspeaker Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 41 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Teached is a short documentary film series directed and produced by Kelly Amis and her production company Loudspeaker Films. The films address the causes and consequences of the achievement gap in the U.S. public education system. TEACHED Vol. I, which includes the first three short films in the series, premiered at the Napa Valley Film Festival in late 2011.[1]
Synopsis
More than half a century after Brown v. Board of Education promised all students would receive an equal education, many schools are still failing record numbers of African American and Hispanic students, showing little change in the race-based achievement gap. TEACHED Volume I relies on nearly twenty years of teaching, research, and experience working in and for urban schools as it addresses some of today’s most challenging education issues, from the under-education and over-incarceration of minority youth to the fight over teacher tenure.[2][3]
TEACHED Volume I
TEACHED Volume I features the first three films of the TEACHED short film series: The Path to Prison, The Blame Game: Teachers Speak Out and Unchartered Territory. Each film addresses topical issues around the American education system, especially those issues affecting urban youth.
Episodes
# | Title | Duration |
---|---|---|
1 | "The Path to Prison" | 8 minutes |
The United States now bears the ominous title as the planet’s most prolific jailer: with only 5% of the population, we represent a quarter of the world’s incarcerated. The vast majority of our inmates are illiterate, and an inordinate number are people of color. One young man’s story helps explain how so many capable and intelligent youth, especially African-American males, end up behind bars in “the land of the free.” | ||
2 | "The Blame Game: Teachers Speak Out" | 17 minutes |
The discourse around education reform – especially on issues involving teachers – lacks nuance, thoughtfulness, and often, commonsense. Simplistic “pro-“ and “anti-“ teacher rhetoric is distracting from the efforts to improve teacher quality, especially in schools serving urban, minority children. What do teachers themselves say about the profession and whether it is serving students’ needs…not to mention their own? | ||
3 | "Unchartered Territory" | 16 minutes |
Charter school founders are pioneers of education reform, staking their claim by opening new schools in many historically underserved communities. But twenty years after the first charter school opened its doors, many American are still confused about what these independently operated, publicly funded schools are, and why not all of them are performing well. Was the charter formula wrong? What can the best charter school leaders teach the rest? |
Cast & Crew
- Kelly Amis - Producer, Director
- Ashley Johnson - Outreach Coordinator
- Sergei Krasikov - Director of Photography, Editor
- Art Meyerhoff - Cinematographer
- Kate Stilley Steiner - Editor
- Sean Kimber - Graphics
- Asparagus Studios - Music
- Michael Harris - Music
- Phillip Ebeid - Cinematographer
- Christina Voros - Cinematographer
- Ana-Lena Isaksson - Cinematographer
- Justin Ammon - Cinematographer
- Andrew Blum - Cinematographer
- Cyrus Dowlatshahi - Cinematographer
- Ri Crawford - Title Sequence
Production
TEACHED was originally conceived as a feature-length documentary but evolved into a short film series during production. It is sponsored by the International Documentary Association and is funded by charitable contributions. In 2013, Amis won the Teach for America Social Innovation Award, which provided an additional $50,000 to the project.[4]
Awards and Screenings
- Napa Valley Film Festival (2011)
- Spirit of Independence Jury Prize:Amsterdam Film Festival (2012)
- Official Selection: deadCENTER Film Festival (2012)
- Film Festival of Colorado (2012)
- Official Selection: Sonoma International Film Festival (2012)
- Official Selection: SouthSide Film Festival (2012)
- Big Easy International Film Festival (2012)
- New Hampshire Film Festival (2012)
- Harlem International Film Festival (2012)
- Outstanding Short Documentary: Williamsburg Film Festival (2012)
- Teach For America: Social Innovation Award Winner (2013)
- London Lift-Off Film Festival (2013)
- Miami Short Film Festival (2013)
- SXSWedu: Film Screening (2014)[1]
References
- 1 2 "Putting Your voice on the Loudspeaker". Loudspeaker Films. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ↑ "Plot Summary". IMdB. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ↑ Petersen, Julie (20 April 2010). "Guest post: Time to get TEACHED". New Schools. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
- ↑ "TEACHED films bolstered by $50,000 grant from TFA". Core Education LLC. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2014.