SDH Captioned
Grades 5-12, College, Adult
Produced by Lauren Greenfield
DVD Purchase $195, Rent $45
US Release Date: 2008
Copyright Date: 2007
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-838-4
Subjects
Advertising
American Studies
Anthropology
Business Practices
Capitalism
Children's Films
Children's Stories: Live Action
Consumerism
Corporatism
Ethics
Family and Consumer Sciences
Global Issues
Humanities
Local Economies
Marketing
Marketing and Advertising
Mass Media
Multicultural Studies
Psychology
Social Psychology
Sociology
Sustainability
Values
Awards and Festivals
Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival
Gold Hugo, Documentary, Chicago International Television Awards
Audience Award, AFI International Shorts Competition
Best Documentary Short, KIDS FIRST! Film Festival
Best Documentary, Michael Moore Award, Ann Arbor Film Festival
Shorts Audience Award, Newport International Film Festival
International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam (IDFA)
HotDocs International Documentary Festival
SilverDocs Documentary Festival
Sydney Film Festival
Jackson Hole Film Festival
Independent Film Festival, Boston
DOKKINO Film Festival, Finland
Reframe, Peterborough International Film Festival
St. Louis International Film Festival
Lens Politica, Finland
Girl Fest Hawaii Film Festival
London Film Festival
New Hampshire Film Festival
St. John's International Women's Film Festival
The Other Venice Film Festival
Pacific New Media
Hawaii International Film Festival
American Cinematheque - Focus on Female Directors
Charlotte Film Festival
California Next Gen Film Festival
Martha's Vineyard Film Festival
SF Shorts: The San Francisco International Festival of Short Films
Dokufest Kosovo
Expresion en Corto International Film Festival Mexico
Galway Film Fleadh, Ireland
Philadelphia Independent Film Festival
Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner France
Connecticut Film Festival
Little Rock Film Festival
New York Photo Festival
Delray Beach Film Festival
Antelope Valley Film Festival
Marfa Film Festival
Indianapolis Film Festival
Athens International Film + Video Festival
Indie Lisboa Film Festival
View Finders Film Festival
Atlanta Film Festival
Sarasota Film Festival
Crossroads Film Festival
Vail Film Festival
Fargo Film Festival
American Psychological Association Film Festival
Artivist Film Festival
Money talks. Teens in Los Angeles discuss money: getting it, spending it and learning to live without it.
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"kids + money is a piercing examination of the relationship between the two." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times |
An original short film by award-winning filmmaker and photographer Lauren Greenfield, kids + money is a conversation with young people from diverse Los Angeles communities about the role of money in their lives. From rich to poor, Pacific Palisades to East L.A., kids address how they are shaped by a culture of consumerism.
In kids + money, Greenfield takes the cultural temperature of a generation imprinted by commercial values. Born of the extremes of poverty and wealth that define the Los Angeles landscape, kids tell their stories in a series of interview-based "portraits."
Reviews
"A very powerful and chilling window into what the commercialization of childhood really means in the lives of children growing up today. By telling the story through the voices of children themselves, Lauren Greenfield masterfully captures how marketing and money creeps into the hearts, minds and souls of today's young people--diverse girls and boys alike. It should provide us all with a deep sense of urgency to work to reduce the influence marketers and the world they have created is having on our children."
Dr. Diane E. Levin, Professor of Education, Wheelock College, co-author of So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood And What Parents Can Do To Protect Their Kids
"A fascinating look at LA teenagers from across the economic spectrum candidly talking about the importance of money and its ability to provide the clothes, cars, jewelry, bags and shoes that define who they are and where they fit in the social hierarchy. At times disturbing, at others poignant and touching, this film paints a realistic portrait of children growing up at the epicenter of an increasingly materialistic culture."
Dr. Dan Kindlon, Child Psychologist, Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard University, Author, Too Much of a Good Thing: Raising Children of Character in an Indulgent Age
"It's impossible to watch Lauren Greenfield's short, smart film and not feel unsettled. It's not so much the way a hunger for money and signs of wealth consumes rich and poor alike; it's the way all those promises of freedom, choice, and individuality create, in fact, a poverty of imagination. This is a film to watch over and over. It takes time to adjust to the bright, glitzy subject matter and fully appreciate the subtleties of voice, desire, and relationship."
Lyn Mikel Brown Ed.D., Professor of Education,Colby College, Co-author, Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters From Marketers' Schemes, Founder, Hardy Girls Healthy Women
"An excruciatingly clear and poignant look at the attitudes of early teens...Provide[s] in-depth portraits of a diverse group...Watching this provocative film will initiate lively conversations with your students."
Connect Magazine
"This high-quality program is valuable for parent education or classroom use, especially to prompt discussion on the 'endless process of consumption.'"
Booklist
"Astonishing, disturbing, and even heart-wrenching at times. The film captures the desire of kids growing up in a materialistic culture and the powerful influence that marketing and advirtising have on them...Classes in government, economics, character development, and guidance as well as non-profit youth organizations can utilize this nonjudgmental, thought-provoking film as a springboard for discussions on consumerism, money, values, character, culture, and peer pressure."
Linda Teel, East Carolina University, School Library Journal
"Photographer Lauren Greenfield's kids + money is a piercing examination of the relationship between the two in the wealthier parts of L.A."
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"Clearly Greenfield is respectful, however, to the subjects, instead of judgmental, which is likely why her subjects are so willing to open up."
Mercury
"When I arrived to the theatre an hour and a half before the screening there were already people in the Rush line, and that is true dedication."
Movie Moxie
"I have always been an avid shopper and pride myself on my wardrobe. That said, it was a bit disconcerting to see the desperate importance these kids placed on having the right item in their wardrobe."
Styleology
"It's really a must-see and should make us all take a hard look at the values we are teaching our children."
Studio Daily