Institute History
Description
U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Vérité Filmmaking
On a remote patch of the Mojave Desert, amidst dusty tumbleweeds and rangy Joshua Trees, sits an anomaly: a high school where educators believe empathy, life skills, and the constancy of a caring adult are the differences that will give at-risk students command of their fates. On any given day, principal Vonda Viland calls kids at the crack of dawn to see if they’ll make it to school. And if they need a ride? Well, she’ll pick them up. Vonda knows each student’s challenges and coaches them tirelessly, never fostering false hopes. Her philosophy combines loving compassion with realism, and given her school’s rising graduation rate, it seems to be working.
We fall in love with Vonda and “bad kids” Joey, Jennifer, and Lee—each wrestling with traumatic odds like abuse, addiction, homelessness, and teen parenthood. Intimate vérité camerawork and poetic, stylized sequences create an immersive, emotional experience that gives way to not just information, but also insight about America’s most pressing education problem: poverty. The Bad Kids is that rare documentary whose power emerges as much from its exquisite artistry as its crucial content.