High School: Your Challenge (1952)

American Teen

A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.

Junior War

In Junior War, a throng of highschoolers congregate at night for a party in the woods sometime in the year 2000. A band plays, the kids get drunk, the boys and girls tepidly flirt, and groups deploy into cars for the purpose of destroying mailboxes, tee-peeing houses, breaking lawn ornaments, and sparring with the police. The film is composed entirely of footage Trecartin took during his senior year of high school in exurban Ohio; as such, it baits the viewer with genealogical significance.

Mr. Football

After an urban Catholic High School football team comes together to win a state championship, tragedy strikes. A star player is killed and two of his teammates are charged with his murder. Based on the true story of the Cleveland, Ohio Benedictine football team's 2004 season.

Going Varsity in Mariachi

A year in the life of an underdog competitive high school mariachi band in the Texas borderlands.

Bots High

A documentary following the adventures of three high school robotics teams battling for first place at a national robotics competition in Miami, Florida. Lone wolf Will builds robots so powerful they're unstoppable...if only they don't destroy themselves first. The Mechanical Misfits are an all-girls team stumbling through their first foray into combat robotics, and Elizabeth and Danielle are a formidable pair looking to reign supreme during their senior year.

Voices of Central

Students of the high school show choir Voices of Central take a look back on the emotional journey they endured during the 2021-2022 school year.

More than a Game

This documentary follows NBA superstar LeBron James and four of his talented teammates through the trials and tribulations of high school basketball in Ohio and James' journey to fame.

Science Fair

Filmmakers follow nine high school students from around the globe as they compete at an international science fair. Facing off against 1,700 of the smartest teens from 78 countries, only one will be named Best in Fair.

Pressure Cooker

A committed, passionate teacher tries to make all the difference in the lives of disadvantaged students.

How to Dance in Ohio

In Columbus, Ohio, a group of autistic teenagers and young adults role-play this transition by going through the deceptively complex social interactions of preparing for a spring formal. Focusing on several young women as they go through an iconic American rite of passage, we are given intimate access to people who are often unable to share their experiences with others. With humor and heartbreak, How to Dance in Ohio shows the daily courage of people facing their fears and opening themselves to the pain, worry, and joy of the social world.

All American

In this modern, coming of age documentary, Naomi, Jojo and Arham grapple with economic divides, gender roles, and family dynamics while competing in the fastest growing high school sport in the country: girl’s wrestling.

From Paseo To Pembroke: Kansas City's Golden Age

From Paseo to Pembroke is a Kansas City documentary retrospective on the golden age of high school basketball. From '88 to '98—from the Dotte all the way to Raytown. Told by the era's premier coaches, players and media personalities.

Killer Bees

A championship high school basketball team provides pride, tradition and hope for an African American community struggling to survive in the middle of one of the wealthiest communities in America - The Hamptons.

Winter Park - Ten Years Later

In 2011, the center of the high school basketball world was in Winter Park, Florida. Winter Park - Ten Years Later recounts the journey of NBA veteran Austin Rivers as he stepped out of the shadow of his NBA head coach father, Doc Rivers, and into the basketball stratosphere as a high school supernova.

This Is Going to Be Big

Peer behind the curtain as a cast of neurodivergent teens prepare to come of age and hit the stage in their school’s time-travelling, John Farnham–themed musical.

High School II

HIGH SCHOOL II is a film about Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS), a successful alternative high school in New York's Spanish Harlem, 85-95% of whose graduates go on to four year colleges. The film illustrates the school's emphasis on the “Habits of Mind” program (weighing evidence; awareness of multiple points of view; seeing connections and relationships; speculating on possibilities; and assessing values.) Sequences illustrating the school's approach to learning include: classroom activities in the humanities and sciences; family conferences; discussions of race, class, and gender; faculty meetings; disciplinary problems; sex education; conflict resolution by students; and student council meetings.

Seventeen

In their final year at Muncie's Southside High School, a group of seniors hurtles toward maturity with a combination of joy, despair, and an aggravated sense of urgency. They are also learning a great deal about life, both in and out of school, and not what school officials think they are teaching.

Try Harder!

In a universe where cool kids are nerds, the orchestra is world class and being Asian American is the norm, seniors at Lowell High School compete for the top prize: admission to the college of their dreams.

On Guard: A Story of American Youth

Set in the hallways of Bel Air High School in El Paso, Texas, the documentary follows an all-girl Color Guard team as they balance the pressures of adolescence with the demands of competitive performance. As they prepare for the WGI World Championships, a devastating mass shooting strikes their hometown. In response, the team creates a tribute performance, transforming their sport into an expression of collective grief, pride, and resistance.

Girl Talk

Set in the cutthroat, boy-dominated world of high school debate where tomorrow’s leaders are groomed, GIRL TALK tells the timely story of five girls on a diverse, top-ranked Massachusetts high school debate team as they strive to become the best debaters in the United States on their own terms.

In the Game

Through the stories of a Hispanic girls soccer team at Kelly High School in Chicago, IN THE GAME illustrates the enormous challenges facing inner-city girls in their quest for higher education and, most importantly, success in life.

An Intervention

Chelsea Bledsoe and her husband Graig throw a surprise intervention for her old high school boyfriend, Henry, with a mismatched group of acquaintances from back in the day to fill out the guest list.

Scenes from the Glittering World

At the farthest edge of the Navajo Nation, the purpose and future of the most remote high school in the continental United States is in question while three Indigenous youth grapple with ambitious dreams, family responsibilities, and the isolated nature of their community.

The Act of Reading

A retired high school English teacher is confronted by a former student who failed her class 15 years prior. He then involves her in a feature-length presentation on Moby-Dick and the science of reading.

Big Voice

BIG VOICE captures a tumultuous year in the life of a visionary high school choir teacher and his students as they overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to become one big voice in this inspiring musical documentary.

Adolescents

Emma and Anaïs are best friends and yet everything in their life seems to set them apart, their social backgrounds but also their personalities. From the age of thirteen to eighteen, Adolescentes follows the two teenagers during these years where radical transformations and first times punctuate daily life. Through their personal stories, the film offers a rare portrait of France and its recent history.

My So-Called High School Rank

A deep dive into the lives of high school students in three radically disparate communities as they navigate the pressures around college while staging a musical, until seismic events upend their dreams and expectations.

Step

The senior year of a girls’ high school step team in inner-city Baltimore is documented, as they try to become the first in their families to attend college. The girls strive to make their dancing a success against the backdrop of social unrest in their troubled city.

Jeff Weise: My Personal Documentary

Documentary about the Red Lake school shooting and its perpetrator, Jeff Weise.

Balíktanaw: The Vlogumentary

Set in the nostalgic days of 2018–2019, relive the journey of a high school section that captured the chaotic beauty of their final year together.

Manchild: The Schea Cotton Story

Schea Cotton is the subject of one of the biggest mysteries in basketball’s history. Described as “the Lebron before Lebron,” Inglewood-native Cotton dominated the likes of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and was one of the most highly touted high school athletes of a pre-social media era. Yet he never made it to the NBA. What happened?

"L'Affaire Anna Lisbonne"

Plot unavailable

seventy x seven

A high school student revisits seven churches and chapels close to her faith after being confronted with what seems to her the unforgivable.

Pen-Hi Grad

In Penticton, BC, most students graduating from the only high school in town know that job opportunities and higher education lie elsewhere, most likely in Vancouver. So, for one memorable week, they go through a whirlwind of formal ceremonies, wild celebrations, hi-jinks and farewells that involve the whole population of this Okanagan Valley community.

We Did It on a Song

This film tells the stormy tale of a group of friends from Boulogne-sur-Mer, a French town hit by the financial crisis. A year between dreams and disillusion, imagined by teenagers from a working or middle class background, with songs that regularly add poetry, laughter, and emotion to reality.

Christian Weston Chandler...Yep, I'm on TV :)

Christian Weston Chandler...Yep, I'm on TV is a independent documentary produced by Christine Weston Chandler, prior to her internet fame, and released on DVD in celebration of her 25th birthday. The film mostly exists as a compilation of home movies and previous short films.

Stacked

The year was 1999, and a couple of schools four hours apart were embarking on a season-long journey to become the best high school baseball team in Michigan. The Sturgis Trojans and the Pinconning Spartans were schools that were built from the ground up by communities that were unapologetically determined to do one thing - WIN. Both schools were championship caliber baseball teams that didn't know a thing about each other when they took the field at Battle Creek's Bailey Park to face-off in the 1999 MHSAA state championship. Finally, 22 years later, we have uncovered fascinating details about both teams, their run to the state finals, and the emotional thoughts and feelings behind one of the most memorable final innings in MHSAA history.

Trials & Tribulations at the Bishfo: The Most Important Thing I Learned During My Time at Bishop Foley Catholic High School

High School. Commonly referred to as the best years of one's life. In their latest "mockumentary", Green Fez takes you up close and personal with the high school students of today, guaranteeing a display of friendship, hardship, and a story worth exploring.

Lock Step: An Ode to Us

In a time before cultural arts education was being policed, a small community of student creatives was taking their hometown by storm. Comprised of archival footage from Anya Dillard's time as a student at West Orange High School, Lock Step is a film that commemorates the diversity, talent, and cultural impact of cultural arts organizations -- particularly the Ab-Salute Step Team, Nu Theta Omega Girls Step Team, and Jubilee Choir of West Orange High School.

Saying Goodbye to the People I've Grown Up With

Students graduating from Haynes Academy reflect on their memories together and the uncertainty of their futures.