Social Studies: Episode 5: Deletions and Culminations

Social Studies: Episode 5: Deletions and Culminations

27th TIDF: Greek Premiere
Lauren Greenfield returns to her roots with Social Studies, a groundbreaking social experiment exploring the effects of social media on the first generation of digital natives. By capturing real-time smartphone data and using it as both a sociological tool and a storytelling device, Social Studies examines how social media has fundamentally altered childhood. Filmed over the course of a school year in Los Angeles, this character-driven documentary series introduces us to a diverse group of teens who open up their lives – and their phones – to reveal a jaw-dropping high school adventure in which the familiar struggles of adolescence are both amplified and transformed. From battling bullying, grappling with beauty standards, coping with comparison pressures, navigating racism, exploring sexuality, and making life-altering decisions, their compelling and relatable experiences take us on a raw, visceral, and revelatory journey through the challenges of the digital era. Academics have written about this issue, industry experts have testified before Congress, but no one has seen it play out IRL and in the voices of young people through verité filmmaking. The findings are astonishing. Social Studies promises an intimate, urgent, and unsettling window into what it means to come of age in the era of social media.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Lauren Greenfield
Cinematography: Bryan Donnell, Jenna Rosher, Jerry Risius
Editing: Alyse Ardell Spiegel, Lauren Saffa, Helen Kearns, Catherine Bull, Charles Little II, Alex Mackenzie, Wes Lipman
Music: Volker Bertelmann
Production: Institute Pictures, Annenberg Foundation, Artemis Rising Foundation, Sustainable Films
Producers: Lauren Greenfield, Frank Evers
Co-producers: Laura Aguirre
Executive producer: Lauren Greenfield​, Frank Evers​, Wallis Annenberg​, Andrea Van Beuren​, Regina K. Scully​, Caryn Capotosto
Format: DCP
Color: Color
Production Country: USA
Production Year: 2024
Duration: 65'
Contact: Institute
Suitable for kids over the age of 15.

Lauren Greenfield

For 25 years, Emmy Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield has traveled the world, documenting the excesses of wealth and celebrity that have come to define our culture. Named by the New York Times as “America’s foremost visual chronicler of the plutocracy,” Greenfield has produced groundbreaking work on consumerism, youth culture, and gender, provoking international dialogue about some of the most important issues of our time. The Queen of Versailles was the opening night film of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Best Documentary Director Award and was named by Vogue as one of the top documentaries of all time. Her record-breaking, Super Bowl ad #LikeAGirl (250+ million views) earned her 14 Cannes Lions and the Most Awarded Director by Ad Age, making her the first woman to top this list.

Filmography

2006 Thin
2008 Kids + Money (short)
2010 Fashion Show (short)
2011 Beauty CULTure (short)
2012 Best Night Ever (short)
2012 The Queen of Versailles
2015 Magic City (short)
2018 Generation Wealth
2019 The Kingmaker
2024 Social Studies (TV series)