Nanette Burnstein’s American Teen

Nanette Burstein who recently won the Sundance Documentary Directing award continues to be successful throughout the festival circuit with her movie American Teen. The movie was recently picked up by Paramount Vantage and will release on July 25th

The movie is a voyeristic look into the lives of a diverse group of teenagers in their senior year of High School. The movie was filmed at a high school in Warsaw, Indiana and follows the lives of the different archetypal students: jock, geek, rebel, princess, and heart-throb. As with the film’s slogan - “Who Were You?” it succesfully attempts to connect a wide range of audience members with the characters and the storylines through highly dramatic situations and “Real World-esque” confrontations. Although it has been criticized for being manipulative and feeling “rigged” American Teen is highly entertaining and forces the audience to analyze the role of the filmmaker in documentaries. One to check out and decide for yourself.

Interview with Nanette Bernstein: