American Teen

Director: Nanette Burstein
Cast: Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens, Megan Krizmanich, Jacob Tusing
Runtime: 100 minutes
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screening in: Spotlight Premieres

Screening Times

5:00 PM, Saturday March 8th - Alamo Lamar 2
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Synopsis:
AMERICAN TEEN is the heartbreaking and hilarious Sundance hit that follows the lives of four teenagers - a jock, the popular girl, the artsy girl and the geek Ð in one small town in Indiana through their senior year of high school. A modern day BREAKFAST CLUB, we see the insecurities, the cliques, the jealousies, the first loves and heartbreaks, and the struggle to make profound decisions about the future.Filming daily for ten months, filmmaker Nanette Burstein (ON THE ROPES, THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE) developed a deep understanding of her subjects. The result is a film that goes beyond the enduring stereotypes of high school to render complex young people trying to find their way into adulthood. Hannah Bailey is smart and beautiful, but a misfit in her high school. She is a liberal, atheist living in a traditional, Christian, conservative town and dreams of moving to California after graduation. Colin Clemens is the star of the high school basketball team - and in Indiana, basketball is everything. Colin is under enormous pressure this year playing not only to make his town, his school, and his father proud, but for a college scholarship. Jake Tusing is considered to be a nerd in high school. Though quite funny and charming one-on-one, he is painfully shy in group situations and crushed with self-doubt. In his senior year he vows that nothing will stand in the way of him finding a girlfriend. Megan Krizmanich is the student council Vice President and the youngest daughter of a prominent local surgeon, anxiously awaiting word from Notre Dame University admissions. Wealthy, pretty, smart and popular, she rules her high school - just don't get on her bad side. When Megan's peers challenge her authority, she can't help but take action, even if it means risking her future.With extraordinary intimacy and a great deal of humor, AMERICAN TEEN captures the pressures of growing up Ð pressures that come from one's peers, one's parents, and not least, oneself. Paramount Vantage presents AMERICAN TEEN, directed by Nanette Burstein. The film is an A&E Indiefilms Presentation of a Firehouse Films and Quasiworld Entertainment production in association with 57th and Irving. The producers are Nanette Burstein, Jordan Roberts, Eli Gonda and Chris Huddleston. The executive producers are Elisa Pugliese, Patrick Morris, Molly Thompson, Nancy Dubuc and Rob Sharenow. The behind-the-scenes team includes directors of photography Laela Kilbourn and Wolfgang Held and editors Mary Manhardt and Tom Haneke. The animation was created by Blacklist.

Director's Bio:
Nanette Burstein: Producer/Director In 1998, Nanette Burstein's NYU thesis film turned into her first feature length documentary. On the Ropes, about three young boxers fighting their way out of Bedford Stuyvesant, New York, was theatrically released nationwide. It was nominated for an Academy Award, and it also won the Director's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, the IDA (International Documentary Association) Achievement Award for Best Feature Documentary, and the Special Jury award at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2002, she co-produced and directed The Kid Stays in the Picture, the critically acclaimed feature-length film about the legendary Hollywood producer, Robert Evans. After premiering at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals, The KidÉ was widely released in movie theaters around the world, receiving many of the Critics' Awards. It also aired on HBO, and was released on DVD. Burstein's other producing/ directing credits include: the five part series Say it Loud: A Celebration of Black Music in America for VH1 in 2001; and an hour-long film about Olympic gold medallist, Marion Jones for Nike and NBC. She also executive produced a ten part reality series Film School for IFC, a one-hour special for AMC entitled Autobiography and a two part special for VH1, NY77, about that turbulent year, 1977. in New york City. Burstein is producing and directing her third feature-length documentary, American Teen for A&E IndieFilms and eventual theatrical release. A real life teen movie, it intertwines four classic teen stories about seniors at the same high school in Indiana. The film will premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Along with her documentary productions, Burstein also directs commercials including campaigns for Nike and Footlocker.