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College Material
TYPE: Documentary
GENRE: Documentary
STATUS: Production
LOGLINE
“College Material” follows a group of NYC public school students through the pressure and stress of applying to college during a year the entire admissions process is being challenged and undergoing radical change.
SYNOPSIS
Seven students from Humanities Prep, a public high school in NYC, will be the first in their families to attend college. They know little about the prestigious schools to which they will be applying, but a volunteer college counselor, who has worked at the school for 20 years, will guide them through the process and introduce opportunities that could significantly alter their lives.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
In June, the Supreme Court eliminated Affirmative Action and ended Biden’s Debt Forgiveness program. Legacy and early admissions plans are being challenged at both the State and Federal levels, and AI is raising ethical questions about the entire admissions process. The film will examine the impact of these changes on a group of public high school seniors as they apply to colleges in a year of upheaval that will alter college admissions forever.
KEY CREW
Joel Gershon - Director
Joel Gershon (Director, Producer, Cinematographer) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who graduated from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2003. Joel was hired by the International Herald Tribune and moved to Bangkok where he worked for 12 years producing a range of short films, TV pieces and print stories. He returned to the U.S. in 2017 to teach at American University’s School of Communication, where he continued to lecture for several years.
In 2020, Joel’s first feature-length documentary film, “Cirque du Cambodia,” premiered at the United Nations Association Film Festival. It went on to win various domestic and international awards at prestigious film festivals around the world. You can learn more about Joel at www.joelgershon.com
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