‘Accepted’ Filmmakers on How They Turned Out When The ‘Miracle School Story’ They Thought They’d Made Explodes: ‘F**t Shot The Fan’

Documentaries rarely come out the way they were originally conceived. The cameras evolve as they progress: unexpected characters may appear or new facts may emerge. This is the nature of an unwritten art form.

But in case of a new movie accepted, this documentary has reached real extremes. Directed by Dan Chen and directed by Jason Y. Lee and Jesse Einstein, they thought they started the movie with a predictable narrative when things changed suddenly and dramatically.

“The proverbial dead end has struck its fans,” Lee says.

Original concept back accepted There was research by TM Landry, a school in Brooks Bridge, Louisiana, who has an excellent track record of getting their students, mostly minority children, into the Ivy League or other prestigious universities. The private K-12 school has gained notoriety with viral videos of anxious students in front of their laptops, surrounded by their classmates, waiting for news from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or other schools, and then ecstatically reacting to the good news. The good news resonated on social media and on television, from the morning news shows to The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

“I first learned about this story on Twitter just by watching these amazing viral videos seen by millions of people,” Lee said during a Q&A about the movie in Santa Monica. “You see the joy on their faces and you think, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing. I was looking at them and thinking, “I hope someone is making a documentary about this story.” And we said, you know? Maybe these people are us.”

In 2018, Lee and Chen met with the school’s charismatic leader, Mike Landry, and soon a film crew traveled to Louisiana. They began shooting with students who would soon take the ACT exam and apply to Ivies and other elite institutions just like their viral predecessors.

During the Q&A session, Chen said, “I actually connected with the idea of ​​following kids in a small town, chasing big dreams, dreams that society didn’t expect from them.” Said. “The goal was always to follow him from his point of view.”

They spent time with children at home, including Aiti Sabatier, who was raised by her grandmother and uncle and grew up poor; Cathy Bui, who helps care for her two disabled sisters while studying, and Alicia Simon, a student whose mother is battling stage 4 cancer.

At school, Chen and his team filmed Landry, a bow-tied sergeant in action, who encourages students to excel academically and proves that disadvantaged non-white children belong in top colleges.

“We only create winners here,” Landry barked at his accusations. “We don’t raise sheep here. We raise wolves.”

He may be harsh with the students, but he probably said it the way it is: America doesn’t expect much from you, so stand up to them and take your place.

“What I saw was its launch. [was] For example, America is a terrible place with a truly troubled history. If you’re black, brunette, or a minority child, you have a lot to deal with,” said Chen. “I can see why it’s challenging, especially if your back is against the wall. You want to feel like you have something to do and you want to be proud of your work.”

However, principals began to feel dissatisfied with Landry’s treatment of students among some parents. While filming at TM Landry, the director and producers began to wonder if it was snowing.

“I think we only saw one version of the school,” Chen said, “the camera-ready version of the school.”

It turned out that several New York Times reporters were investigating TM Landry and detonated their bomb in November 2018. to reveal. It was found that the school regularly reviews college applications on behalf of students, including making personal articles that make up or make up hiccup stories about neglect and abuse.

“…[T]He falsified school records, fabricated student achievement scores, and borrowed black America’s worst stereotypes to create stories of hardship that he sold to Ivy League schools for diversity,” wrote reporters Erica L. Greene and Kathy Benner. The school’s founders, Mike and his wife, Tracy Landry. “Students and teachers say they also nurture a culture of fear through physical and emotional abuse.. Students were forced to kneel on hot rice, rocks and pavement and were strangled, shouted at and cursed.’

After the report was published, the four main students the filmmakers followed dropped out of school. Apparently, Chen, Lee and Einstein no longer owned the movie.

“Whenever [the Times’ story] It turned out to be pretty disastrous, not just for the project. “Of course, we spent half a year with these students and this community, but more than that, this image of what we really hoped was real was shattered,” Lee said. “Also, the futures of these young people who literally work every day for that future suddenly seem very, very uncertain.” So it was really annoying. “

They stopped production for several months, but their subordinates did not allow them to escape.

“They called and said, ‘Hey, where are you?’ they said. Why aren’t you here Why don’t you help us tell our story? It was kind of a challenge for them,” Lee recalls. “We found other production partners who said maybe we could tell a bigger story. [not only] About students, but about the education system in general. That’s why we decided to come back.”

accepted Become a film that questions structural issues like the warped standards of exclusivity in America and how TM Landry, perhaps unknowingly, conveys a narrative that allows people to ignore systemic inequality.

Chen said the idea of ​​a “miracle school” could easily drive people away. “The appeal of viral videos is ‘Everything is fine’. We don’t need to worry about that. He The boy succeeded. I hope that with this movie we can help dispel that illusion… with these real references we can help people dispel their comforting lies about our situation.

We have many young people from challenging socio-economic backgrounds who have great potential and aspirations but lack support and opportunities. At the same time as Operation Varsity Blues, Scandal has shown that (mostly) privileged whites are convinced that their children will receive unearned benefits such as attending elite universities. (Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman “were among those behind bars for the Varsity Blues conspiracy that promised to get the rich’s kids out of high school with fake sports certificates or fake SAT scores.”

TM Landry graduate Eighty Sabatier attended Laemmle Monica’s Q&A session and talked about how she felt when the Varsity Blues story unfolded.

“To be honest, I was angry,” Sabathier said. “My first reaction was, wow, I spent all my time getting into college, very little [financial resources] I have all the effort and effort for this. And these people who don’t care about school in the first place and just want a name and they take it. And that’s something I would never do just for money and power. Hurts. To be honest, it hurt a lot. “

accepted City selection currently in theaters. Also available on Apple TV and Prime Video; The DVD is available on Amazon.

Chen and Lee call out to the students who have appeared. accepted Movie characters rely on finding ways to be more authentic, rejecting what the white-dominated society has set as the cornerstone of academic success.

“Our hope in the movie is to explore all the nuances and nuances of this kind of system we live in and what it does to the people who live in it,” said Chen.