The San Diego Film Festival, which is being held Sept. 28 through Oct. 2 at The Gaslamp Theatre, will screen films that run the gamut from slices of cinematic life that encompass the seesaw effects of comedy versus drama, and all points in between.
From mainstream efforts, such as the new Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt cancer dramedy 50/50, to the Gerard Butler thriller Coriolanus and Michael C. Hall and Lucy Liu headlining a comedic look at one man’s life as it begins to unravel in East Fifth Bliss, there is truly something for everyone.
A majority of the diverse 85 films being shown for attendees fall into the category of being of the short film variety, with entries from both the fields of smaller pieces of the fictional celluloid pie, to documentaries that shed light on a wealth of various subject matters.
Among them, is the documentary, The Bully Project, an all-too-real glimpse into what life is like for a number of LGBT teens that populate the halls of high schools in Everytown, USA, cementing the gravity of the problems that the youth of today face at the hands, and mouths, of bullies nationwide.
Following on the heels of real-life events that have prompted in-depth probes and inspired the creation of public service announcements (including those produced for the It Gets Better campaign) and unfortunate cases of “bullycide,” The Bully Project focuses on the harsh realities that LGBT students face on a daily basis.
Director Lee Hirsch and writer Cynthia Lowen afford audiences an insightful glimpse into what it is like to be at ground zero for a staggering number of kids in America.
Statistically speaking, five million youths (including the aforementioned LGBT students) feel the negative effects of intolerance, indifference and insults, lobbied at them from fellow students. Those that are dealing with the onslaught of bullying are subjected to dealing with the dilemma on a regular basis, whether it’s on school grounds, texts on their cell phones or on social media outlets, such as Facebook.
The Bully Project gives names and faces to these statistical stories, including those who have unfortunately seen suicide as the only answer to their horrendous treatment. Five kids and their families are followed over the period of one school year, a time when life is ripe with possibilities, until the dark cloud of narrow-mindedness hangs over their heads, bringing a downpour of cruelty; and The Bully Project showcases how words can do more damage than physical violence.
The students themselves come from all walks of life, and different locales across the nation, as the documentary shines a bright spotlight on how they have traversed the being-bullied battlefield. There’s 14-year-old Alex of Sioux City, Iowa, 16-year-old Kelby of Tuttle, Okla., and 14-year-old Ja’Meya of Yazoo County, Miss. Two families, The Longs of Chatsworth, Ga. and the Smalleys of Perkins, Okla., have their own tales to tell regarding the loss of their offspring by suicide, and their efforts to not let their deaths be in vain by empowering themselves from their respective tragedies, and speaking out about how their losses have affected their lives.
The documentary also serves as a catalyst to alter the landscape of how hate speech is now interpreted, and takes its real-life storytelling abilities into the next level, by setting the stage of how these situations are dealt with by society as a whole.
The Bully Project will be shown at 7 p.m. on Oct. 2, as an important part of The San Diego Film Festival’s closing night.
For more information about The Bully Project, log onto thebullyproject.com. For tickets and information about the other films being showcased, log onto sdff.org.
