A+ Journalism Doc ‘Teenage Wasteland’ Trailer About High Schoolers

“Young people rising up to the challenge & doing something about it.” Film Forum has revealed the official trailer for the film Teenage Wasteland, a remarkably compelling & inspiring documentary film made by acclaimed doc filmmaker duo Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine (also of The Outsiders, Boys State, Girls State). This premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival under the original name Middletown, which is the name of the town in upstate New York that it takes place in. This new title is a bit better – and I hope it gets people’s attention. A teacher inspires a group of teenagers in the early 1990s to make a student film and they uncover a conspiracy that is poisoning their community. 30 years later they revisit this transformative experience. The story followers an intrepid group of high schoolers who took cameras to their local dump and discovered toxic waste – and tons of corruption and much more. I’m a huge fan of this doc and wrote a glowing review from Sundance – it’s about so much more than journalism. Highly recommend watching this. // Continue Reading ›