Robert May is an American film producer. He was a producer of The War Tapes [1] and The Station Agent , [2] an executive producer of Stevie [3] and The Fog of War , [4] and the director and a producer of Kids for Cash . [5] [6] The Fog of War won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
In the Kids for cash scandal, judge Mark Ciavarella, who promoted a platform of zero tolerance, received kickbacks for constructing a private prison that housed juvenile offenders, and then proceeded to fill the prison by sentencing children to extended stays in juvenile detention for offenses as minimal as mocking a principal on Myspace, scuffles in hallways, trespassing in a vacant building, and shoplifting DVDs from Wal-mart. Critics of zero-tolerance policies argue that harsh punishments for minor offences are normalized.
May directed Kids for Cash , a 2013 documentary film about the "kids for cash" scandal which unfolded in 2008 over judicial kickbacks in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. May is a critic of the School-to-prison pipeline and zero tolerance law enforcement for juveniles. [7] [8] [9] [10] In the documentary, May interviews experts on adolescent behaviour, who argue that the zero tolerance model has become a dominant approach to policing juvenile offences after the Columbine shooting. [11] [12]
Critical response for Kids for Cash has been positive. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has a 91 percent approval rating based on 32 reviews. [13]
A zero-tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule. Zero-tolerance policies forbid people in positions of authority from exercising discretion or changing punishments to fit the circumstances subjectively; they are required to impose a pre-determined punishment regardless of individual culpability, extenuating circumstances, or history. This pre-determined punishment, whether mild or severe, is always meted out.
Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993), the Before trilogy romance films—Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013), the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003), the animated films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006), the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014), and the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016).
Wych Kaosayananda, also known as Wych Kaos or Kaos, is a Thai film director.
The Fog is a 1980 American supernatural horror film directed by John Carpenter, who also co-wrote the screenplay and created the music for the film. It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Janet Leigh and Hal Holbrook. It tells the story of a strange, glowing fog that sweeps over a small coastal town in California, bringing with it the vengeful ghosts of mariners who were killed in a shipwreck there 100 years before.
September Tapes is a faux-documentary feature film co-written and directed by Christian Johnston in his feature debut. An early review of the film's promotional trailer noted that the footage looked "more real than network news footage".
Incident at Loch Ness is a 2004 mockumentary starring, produced by and written by Werner Herzog and Zak Penn. The small cast film follows Herzog and his crew while working on the production of a movie project on the Loch Ness Monster titled Enigma of Loch Ness. Incident at Loch Ness won the New American Cinema Award at the 2004 Seattle International Film Festival.
The Kid Stays in the Picture is a 1994 print autobiography by film producer Robert Evans. A film adaptation of the book was released in 2002.
A zero-tolerance policy in schools is a strict enforcement of regulations and bans against behaviors or the possession of items deemed undesirable by said schools. Public criticism against such policies has arisen due to the sometimes negative consequences of its enforcement when acts deemed intolerable are done in ignorance, by accident, or under extenuating circumstances, in addition to its connection to educational inequality in the United States. In schools, common zero-tolerance policies concern possession or use of illicit drugs or weapons. Students, and sometimes staff, parents, and other visitors, who possess a banned item for any reason are always to be punished.
Mark Arthur Ciavarella Jr. is a convicted felon and former President Judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who was involved, along with fellow judge Michael Conahan, in the "Kids for cash" scandal in 2008.
The "kids for cash" scandal centered on judicial kickbacks to two judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. In 2008, judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were convicted of accepting money in return for imposing harsh adjudications on juveniles to increase occupancy at for-profit detention centers.
The War on Kids is a 2009 documentary film about the American school system directed by Cevin Soling. The film examines American public education and argues that many public school systems are not only failing to educate, but are increasingly authoritarian institutions that are eroding the foundations of American democracy.
PA Child Care is a juvenile detention center in Pittston Township, Pennsylvania. It was opened in February 2003. It has a sister company, Western PA Child Care, in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Treatment at both facilities is provided by Mid Atlantic Youth Services, and both were involved in the kids for cash scandal in 2008. Gregory Zappala took sole ownership of the company when he purchased co-owner Robert Powell's share in June 2008.
Our Nixon is an all-archival documentary providing a view of the Nixon presidency through the use of Super-8 format home movies filmed by top Nixon aides H.R. Haldeman, Dwight Chapin and John Ehrlichman, combined with other historical material such as interviews, oral histories and news clips. It was directed by Penny Lane.
Kids for Cash is a 2013 documentary film about the "kids for cash" scandal which unfolded in 2008 over judicial kickbacks in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Two judges were found guilty of accepting kickbacks in exchange for sending thousands of juveniles to detention centers when probation or a lesser penalty would have been appropriate. Some juveniles were sent to detention centers for incidents as minor as theft of a CD from Walmart.
Tom Donahue is an American film director and producer. His latest documentaries include This Changes Everything, which he directed and produced, about systemic gender bias and discrimination against women in Hollywood and entertainment, and HBO's Bleed Out, which he produced with Ilan Arboleda under the banner of their independent production studio, CreativeChaos vmg. The Los Angeles Press Club awarded Bleed Out with the film Best Documentary and runner-up for Best Medical/Health Reporting at its annual National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and SoCal Journalism Awards in July 2019. Both films premiered in the fall of 2018. Donahue has also received much critical acclaim for directing HBO's Casting By, which was nominated for an Emmy, and Thank You for Your Service, which was released theatrically by Gathr Films in 2016. In 2010, Donahue founded the production company CreativeChaos vmg with Ilan Arboleda and Steve Edwards.
Prophet's Prey is a 2015 American documentary directed and written by Amy Berg. The film follows Warren Jeffs, the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who is now running the religion from the confines of the Texas state prison, serving out a life sentence, for the rape of young girls. The film is an adaption of the 2011 book of the same name by Sam Brower, who also serves as a producer on the film. Ron Howard serves as an executive producer under his Imagine Entertainment banner.
Zero Days is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Alex Gibney. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.
Time is a 2020 American documentary film produced and directed by Garrett Bradley. It follows Sibil Fox Richardson, fighting for the release of her husband, Rob, who is serving a 60-year prison sentence for engaging in an armed bank robbery.
Mr. Soul! is a 2018 American documentary film produced, written and directed by documentary filmmaker Melissa Haizlip. The film was co-produced by Doug Blush and co-directed by Sam Pollard. The film tells the story of Ellis Haizlip, the producer and host of SOUL!, the music-and-talk program that aired on public television from 1968 to 1973 and aimed at a Black audience. It was released in 2018 and has since received 21 filmmaking awards. Attorney Chaz Ebert, record executive Ron Gillyard, producer and director Stan Lathan, producer Rishi Rajani, producer Stephanie T. Rance, actor Blair Underwood and screenwriter, producer and actress Lena Waithe are the executive producers of the film.
Summer of Soul is a 2021 American documentary film directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. It had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 28, 2021 and had a limited theatrical release in the United States on June 25, 2021, before expanding on July 2, 2021 theatrically by Searchlight Pictures and digitally via Hulu. It received acclaim from critics, with praise aimed at the footage restoration.