Kevin Nguyen and Ianthe Brautigan Swensen will be on a panel for this Free screening of the Doc: "Try Harder!
“TRY HARDER!” April 20th at 7:00pm. Pick up your free tickets at Rialto Cinemas’ box office at 6868 McKinley St, Sebastopol
INDIE LENS POP-UP TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT COMPETITIVE TOP COLLEGE ADMISSIONS IN
DEBBIE LUM’S ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARY
“TRY HARDER!”
— Indie Lens Pop-Up, presented by ITVS, INDEPENDENT LENS and Northern California Public Media will present “Try Harder!” At Lowell High School, the top public high school in San Francisco, college admission is at its most competitive within its high achieving, city-wide student body—nearly 70 percent Asian American— as they work tirelessly to get into their dream schools. With humor and heart, “Try Harder!” from acclaimed filmmaker Debbie Lum, pulls back the curtain on the reality of the college application process and the intersection of class, race, and opportunity through the eyes of high school seniors applying to America’s top schools.
The film encompasses perspectives of students from all walks of life at Lowell: an outgoing aspiring surgeon and son of Taiwanese and Chinese immigrants who spends his time dancing between classes; the daughter of Chinese immigrants who’s both captain of the tennis team and editor of the school newspaper; and an aspiring writer who, as a biracial African American and white student at Lowell, is in the minority. The students proudly own their identities as “nerds” and tell their stories with candor and humor, despite the weighty and immense stress of the admissions process.
Alongside the Lowell students, Lum spotlights parents who take different approaches toward their children’s career paths and identities outside of academics, and teachers who just want the best for their students. The film, ultimately, is a portrait of young adults in the most diverse American generation ever, as they navigate the external and internal pressures of growing up and figuring out their futures.
SCREENING TO FEATURE A Q&A WITH:
Nico Opper, Panelist
“Try Harder!” Documentary Producer
Nico Opper is an Emmy®-nominated director and producer who has been featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s annual “25 New Faces of Independent Film Indiewire Magazine’s 25 LGBT Filmmakers on the Rise, and DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 list of documentary talents. Their work has screened at The Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs, Los Angeles Film Festival, AFI Docs and Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival. Their debut feature film Off and Running premiered at Tribeca and received the Best Documentary Award at Outfest. The WGA Award for Best Documentary Screenplay and multiple audience awards. It aired on P.O.V. and was nominated for a national Emmy.
Kevin Nguyen, PhD, Panelist
Kevin A. Nguyen is an Assistant Professor of STEM Education at Sonoma State University. He teaches in the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, an interdisciplinary department. He is a learning scientist, and his research examines how people learn, engage, and access STEM experiences outside of school.
Ianthe Brautigan Swensen, Moderator
Lecturer at Sonoma State University, Ianthe teaches in the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies, an interdisciplinary department. Ianthe is the author of the memoir You Can’t Catch Death. She has also written for the PBS series, Joanne Weir's Plates and Places (2018-2022) and is working on a documentary about Richard Brautigan.
“Try Harder!” premieres on PBS’s INDEPENDENT LENS on May 2, 2022 at 10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) and will also be available to stream on the PBS Video app.