Inspired by Actual Events
THE FILM
Aryana is a sophomore who goes to Woodrow Wilson, a small-but-intimate charter for grades 6-12 in what U.S. News & World Report deemed “the worst city to live in in the U.S.”
She gets herself up, wakes her 7th grade brother & kindergarten sister, cobbles together breakfast, then gets them on the bus. She doesn’t want to wake her mom, who worked a double and is falling apart since Aryana’s brother died in a club shooting six months ago.
Aryana's greatest conflict at present is that her boyfriend D'AVANTE's strict mother thinks she's a bad influence. Aryana comes around with lots of split lips and black eyes, so D'Avante's mom assumes she's catfighting in the streets.
When the school Principal announces that the state will be closing the school in January, things get intense.
Aryana and her ensemble of four friends reel, struggling to cope with what it means for their future. BEANS, D'Avante's best friend, reacts with anger. He's always hated this fucking school, but now…can't help but feel that "Even the shit we don't want they got to take from us."
Aryana and most of her friends get dumped into the huge neighboring high school - one of the worst in the state (but the only school with space). It turns out, "space" means "a seat on a leaking radiator," and the Wilson alums aren't exactly wanted by the overcrowded student body or the overworked faculty.
THE FACTS
The film is split between the 3 seasons of an academic year & explores the education students are exposed to...not just in their classrooms but in their homes, in their neighborhoods, & in the polarized country around them.
Through meticulous attention to detail and a commitment to accuracy, URBAN ED presents a compelling narrative that is rooted in real experiences and events. We strive to offer an honest representation of urban education, highlighting both the challenges and the beauties.
THE REASOn
Freedom Writers. Dangerous Minds. Lean on Me. These are the depictions of urban education we've gotten…(and many of these 20 years ago). Depictions focused entirely on the educators, where teachers and principals break the law of actual education...where white teachers have one class, save every kid in their room, and let students sleep at their house when the gang is after them. These depictions are not the experience of the majority of teens who find themselves there..
In a time of failing public schools, #BLM, a frightening reinvigoration of racism, and the charter schools debate, the world needs a real portrait of the rich, complex and oftentimes-challenged classrooms within America's cities.