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Sold Out: SUNDANCE ONLINE—Premiere of TRY HARDER!
January 30, 2021 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
SUNDANCE ONLINE―Watch the Sundance premiere of TRY HARDER! a new documentary supported by the California Documentary Project, at the 2021 Sundance Festival online. At Lowell High School, the top public high school in San Francisco, the seniors are stressed out. As they prepare for the emotionally draining college application process, students are keenly aware of the intense competition for the few open spots in their dream colleges. They scrutinize how every element of their application, from their classes to their extracurricular activities to their racial identities, might be read by admission officers. At Lowell—where cool kids are nerds, nearly everyone has an amazing talent, and the majority of the student body is Asian American—the things that usually make a person stand out can feel not good enough, even commonplace.
Saturday, January 30, 12:00pm PT Second Screening: Feburary 1, 9:00am PT
With humor and heart, director Debbie Lum takes us to the reality of the American college application process and the intersection of class, race, and educational opportunity as experienced by high school seniors living through it. Try Harder! is a portrait of young adults in the most diverse American generation ever as they navigate a quintessential rite of passage and make it their own. This film is supported by California Documentary Project Research and Development and Production Grants.
