Teaching Health Today: What to Watch This Weekend
Teaching Health Today: What to Watch This Weekend
Movie trailers! Youtube series! Documentary premieres! Comedy! Lots to love in this roundup of viewing suggestions for adults who need a break.
Trailers
1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed
“My new documentary, 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed, is almost here,” writes W. Kamau Bell. “This is one of the most personal things I’ve ever worked on. It features mixed-race kids from the Bay Area talking about their lives and experiences with race. Today is a big day because all the artwork for the film and the beautiful trailer have been released, and we have an exclusive article with The Hollywood Reporter. It is a little, intimate piece of art, but I believe it is powerful and transformative.” Full movie available on HBO Max starting May 2.
Every Body
This documentary is a revelatory investigation of the lives of intersex people. The film tells the stories of three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and instead came out as their authentic selves. Actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) are now leaders in a fast-growing global movement advocating for greater understanding of the intersex community and an end to unnecessary surgeries. Woven into the story is a stranger-than-fiction case of medical abuse, featuring exclusive footage from the NBC News archives, which helps explain the modern-day treatment of intersex people. Read more about the film in Variety. Full movie premieres in theaters on June 30.
Judy Bloom Forever
The radical honesty of the books by trailblazing author Judy Blume changed the way millions of adolescent readers understood themselves, their sexuality, and what it meant to grow up, but also led to critical battles against book banning and censorship.
With humor, sensitivity, and a healthy dose of adolescent cringe, Judy Blume Forever tells the story of the woman whose trail-blazing books changed the way millions of readers understand themselves, their sexuality, and what it means to grow up. Read more about it in this Jezebel article: In 'Judy Blume Forever,' a YA Icon Finally Tells Her Own Story. Full movie is available to stream now on Amazon Prime video.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
For over fifty years, Judy Blume’s classic and groundbreaking novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. has impacted generations with its timeless coming of age story, insightful humor, and candid exploration of life’s biggest questions. In Lionsgate’s big-screen adaptation, 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is uprooted from her life in New York City for the suburbs of New Jersey, going through the messy and tumultuous throes of puberty with new friends in a new school. She relies on her mother, Barbara (Rachel McAdams), who is also struggling to adjust to life outside the big city, and her adoring grandmother, Sylvia (Kathy Bates), who isn’t happy they moved away and likes to remind them every chance she gets. The film also stars Benny Safdie (Licorice Pizza, Good Time) and is written for the screen and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen), based on the book by Judy Blume, and produced by Gracie Films’ Academy Award® winner James L. Brooks (Best Picture, 1983 – Terms of Endearment). Full movie premiers in theaters April 28.
Online Series
Sharing Space
The first episode of “Sharing Space” from The Trevor Project features six trans and nonbinary young people who sit down with actor Daniel Radcliffe to have a candid, vulnerable, and illuminating conversation about their unique lived experiences. Available free on Youtube now.
Documentary Premiere
Screenagers Under The Influence: Addressing Vaping, Drugs & Alcohol in the Digital Age
In the Bay Area? Catch the local premiere of this third feature documentary in the Screenagers trilogy, which delves into how the tech revolution has reshaped adolescence and teen substance use. .
While most documentaries about substance use focus on severe addiction, Screenagers Under the Influence explores more common scenarios, addressing the current reality teens face being flooded by images on social media, movies, and TV about vaping, drugs, and alcohol. Combining cutting-edge science with personal stories, Screenagers emphasizes practical solutions for keeping our teens safe in an ever-changing world.
The screening will be followed by an in-depth panel discussion featuring:
Rene Ayala, coach/teacher, Archie Williams High School
Rhana Hashemi, Founder, Know Drugs; PhD student, Stanford
Loretta Hovey, student, Archie Williams High School
Kristin Nash, Executive Director, William G. Nash Foundation
Lisa Tabb, Director/Producer, Screenagers Under the Influence
Screening and discussion at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael
TUESDAY, APRIL 25 • 7:00 PM
Just for Laughs
Abbott Elementary
Teachers’ favorite comedy show, the award-winning and hilarious Abbott Elementary, just wrapped up its second season. Catch up on any episodes you missed on Hulu.
Hari Kondabolu: Vacation Baby
Comedian Hari Kondabolu discusses the strange and unique experience of having a kid during a global pandemic. From living in a studio apartment in Brooklyn to reluctantly moving to San Diego for the baby’s birth, we see all the challenges he and his partner overcame to create a child… and eventually, this special. Filmed just days after Roe v Wade was overturned, this special is both personal and political. Additionally, he discusses topics that range from loving dark chocolate as proof of aging to the absurdity of white replacement theory to the horrible truth behind Curious George. Available free on Youtube now.
What are you watching?
Tell us in the comments.
Brilliant 🤩