BULLETPROOF

A film by Todd Chandler
2020, 84 minutes
No. 320
Documentary


BULLETPROOF
$375.00
Description
Bulletproof is an vital and urgent documentary that explores the complexities of violence in schools by looking at the ways we try to prevent it. The film travels across the United States, observing the longstanding rituals that take place in and around schools: homecoming parades, basketball practice, morning announcements, and math class. Unfolding alongside these scenes are a collection of newer traditions: lockdown drills, teacher firearms training, metal detector screenings, and school safety trade shows.

Bulletproof weaves together these moments in a cinematic meditation on fear, violence, and the meaning of safety, bringing viewers into intimate proximity with the people self-tasked with protecting the nation’s children while generating revenue along the way, as well as with those most deeply impacted by these heightened security measures: students and teachers.

Festivals
World Premiere, South by Southwest Film Festival
Official Selection, Maryland Film Festival
Official Selection, Gimli Film Festival
Official Selection, Doku Fest

Reviews
“An intelligent documentary that tackles school shootings and an industry of fear. Without resorting to inflammatory tactics, Todd Chandler's doc carefully probes different schools of thought in the business of keeping kids safe.” – Variety

“Brilliant. Invaluable. A smartly conceived look at the first generation of students to prepare for mass shootings and how fear of them has been commoditized.” – Moveable Fest

“An artfully meditative view of the military, entrepreneurial and educational effects of the American school shooting phenomenon…its measured observational style often evokes one of Frederick Wiseman’s institutional documentaries.” – Point of View Magazine

“Director Todd Chandler examines how institutions deal with the challenges of unthinkable systemic problems.” – Hyperallergic