“I am encouraged that the film has struck a nerve and it’s important, the conversation across the country are changing and growing,” says Abeles, 50, who lives in Lafayette with her husband and three children.
Abeles said she began working on a documentary some years ago, after the “Aha”-”Inconvenient Truth”-type moment, when he realized that the film about the kinds of discussion he was having with the kids and their friends in the Bay Area alone can trigger the National call to action. As of 2009, more than 1 million people have seen the movie–often in places where parents and educators can discuss it afterward.
Grand Lake Theater in Oakland show films three times each night through Thursday, with a question and answer session led by Abeles and some people who appeared in the film after the screening Tuesday 6 pm.
“People usually spend a lot of time to react on an emotional level because these types of hits all people where they live,” says Abeles. “People want to understand what schools can do to affect change and how to make a change in the offices of the college admissions.”
Doctors said the girl’s stomach pains stress-related. In the film, Abeles shows how children and others across the United States grew up trying to be great at everything so they can get into College is the best.