AFTERSCHOOL

(USA, 2008, 106 mins)

35mm

Cast: Rosemarie DeWitt, Paul Sparks, Emory Cohen, Ezra Miller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Addison Timlin, Jeremy Allen White
Producers: Josh Mond, T. Sean Durkin
Executive Producer: Andrew F. Renzi, Victor Aaron, Susan Shopmaker, Rose Ganguzza
Director of Photography: Jody Lipes
Editor: Antonio Campos

A teenage rites-of-passage drama, AFTERSCHOOL vividly captures the corrosive omnipresence of web video footage for American teens. From violent You Tube-style clips to Internet pornography, our new media, this debut film from director Antonio Campos suggests, is creating a tangled web of confusion for the young people going through puberty. Among them is the skinny, socially awkward sophomore Robert (Ezra Miller), who already has developed a taste for rough porn. As two girls suffer fatal drug overdoses on campus, Robert inadvertently captures the tragedy with his video camera. When his video begins circulating, the atmosphere of paranoia and unease on campus grows, and he becomes increasingly troubled and withdrawn.  Campos's startling, stylish debut opens us to deeper debate on the corrosive power of 21st-century imagery. But AFTERSCHOOL scratches gently at this phenomenon, rather than pushing to excess. Just 24, Campos demonstrates his skill at weaving together a variety of themes and concerns: the alienated angst of voyeurism, the pervasive influence of media violence, and the empowering nature of the web cam. Campos also explores, with great finesse, more familiar cinematic subject matter: the shifting allegiances and power dynamics at an American high school.

-- Shaz Bennett

---

---

For ticketing information please phone 1.866.AFI FEST or email boxoffice@afi.com