Interview with the directors of HBO’s new documentary Thoughts & Prayers. Their film premiers this Tuesday night at the DOC NYC film festival and is available streaming the same night. (note: I set up this interview, HBO didn’t ask me to promote this film or provide any financial incentive).
This 90-minute documentary traces the $3 billion active shooter preparedness industry in the United States and its effect on students and educators.
Here is the iPhone note that I wrote right after watching it:
This documentary is a postmodern 90-minute examination of the insanity of modern America. It shows the worst parts of fear and gore culture combined with capitalism. Nothing is more telling than the smirks and chuckles from the security product vendors as they boast about how each school shooting increases their profits. When people offer ‘thoughts and prayers’ after every attack, their words are as empty as the industry this film brutally portrays.
Zack Canepari is the award-winning director of ‘Fire in Paradise’ about the wildfire that destroyed the entire town and Jessica Dimmock directed an award-winning series ‘Flint Town’ about the water crisis and economic conditions in Flint, MI. They team up to present an absolutely gut-wrenching look into the school security industry. The format, presentation, and content is unlike anything I’ve seen before.
David Riedman, PhD is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio and the New England Journal of Medicine.
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