Potential 2024 La Costa Canyon High School
Advanced Placement Psychology Film Festival Selections
Advanced Placement Psychology Film Festival Selections
A Beautiful Mind
From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash, Jr. experienced it all. A mathematical genius, he made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. Then, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Nash spent the next three decades in and out of mental hospitals, all but forgotten. After many years of struggle, he eventually triumphed over his tragedy, During that time, a proof he had written at the age of 20 became a foundation of modern economic theory. In 1994, as Nash began to show signs of emerging from his delusions, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Economics. Nash Info Here Film available Here A Beautiful Mind assignment Here |
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Minding the Gap (2018)
Three young men bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship.
Compiling over 12 years of footage shot in his hometown of Rockford, IL, in MINDING THE GAP Bing Liu searches for correlations between his skateboarder friends' turbulent upbringings and the complexities of modern-day masculinity.
Assignment:
1. Which character or characters in Minding the Gap did you relate to? Why?
2. Did you grow up or do you live in a town or city that reminds you of Rockford? If not, what did you think of Rockford? What was it like growing up where you lived?
3. How did you feel when the film first flashes to the footage of Bing, Zack, and Keire skateboarding as kids? Did it spark memories of your childhood and your childhood friends?
How important do you think your childhood experiences were in forming who you are now?
4. Keire thinks more about his identity as a black man as the film goes on, and links that aspect of who he is to his late father. Do you have a similar experience from your childhood that helped you relate to Keire in these moments? Do you have friends who are of a different race? Do you joke about or talk seriously or avoid talking about race amongst your friends? Why do you think this is?
5. As we see in the film, Bing recorded his friends over the course of twelve years, documenting how different their paths had become. Have your friends changed over the years? If so, how?
6. Several of the film’s subjects remark about their not fitting in with their families. Have there been times where you haven’t felt like you fit in with your family? Do you bond with them despite this? Are your friends like your family, and if so, how?
Inspired by Minding the Gap? Become a mentor to a young person in your community.
Visit the National Mentoring Partnership to learn more and find a
mentoring opportunity near you through Mentoring Connector.
Visit the National Mentoring Partnership to learn more and find a
mentoring opportunity near you through Mentoring Connector.
Long Shot When Juan Catalan is arrested for a murder he insists he didn't commit, he builds his case for innocence around raw footage from a popular TV show, "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Amazing short film. Exciting, suspenseful, quick paced, full of stars, villains, energy. Everything you would want from a thriller. Anyone who has any interest in justice, criminal or otherwise would be satisfied by this 40 minute thrill ride. |

THE MASK YOU LIVE IN
The Mask You Live In follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity.
Pressured by the media, their peer group, and even the adults in their lives, our protagonists confront messages encouraging them to disconnect from their emotions, devalue authentic friendships, objectify and degrade women, and resolve conflicts through violence. These gender stereotypes interconnect with race, class, and circumstance, creating a maze of identity issues boys and young men must navigate to become “real” men.
Experts in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, sports, education, and media also weigh in, offering empirical evidence of the “boy crisis” and tactics to combat it.
The Mask You Live In ultimately illustrates how we, as a society, can raise a healthier generation of boys and young men.
Assignment:
Research shows that compared to girls, boys in the U.S. are more likely to be diagnosed with a behavior disorder, prescribed stimulant medications, fail out of school, binge drink, commit a violent crime, and/or take their own lives. Discuss these stats in terms of the film and your own life and experience
The Mask You Live In follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity.
Pressured by the media, their peer group, and even the adults in their lives, our protagonists confront messages encouraging them to disconnect from their emotions, devalue authentic friendships, objectify and degrade women, and resolve conflicts through violence. These gender stereotypes interconnect with race, class, and circumstance, creating a maze of identity issues boys and young men must navigate to become “real” men.
Experts in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, sports, education, and media also weigh in, offering empirical evidence of the “boy crisis” and tactics to combat it.
The Mask You Live In ultimately illustrates how we, as a society, can raise a healthier generation of boys and young men.
Assignment:
Research shows that compared to girls, boys in the U.S. are more likely to be diagnosed with a behavior disorder, prescribed stimulant medications, fail out of school, binge drink, commit a violent crime, and/or take their own lives. Discuss these stats in terms of the film and your own life and experience
Wall-E
What if mankind had to leave Earth and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of years doing what he was built for, WALL•E discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report to the humans. Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most imaginative adventures ever brought to the big screen. After 700 years of doing what he was built for - he'll discover what he's meant for. |

The Truman Show
The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. The cast includes Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, as well as Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone.
The film chronicles the life of a man who is initially unaware that he is living in a constructed reality television show, broadcast 24-hours-a-day to billions of people across the globe. Truman becomes suspicious of his perceived reality and embarks on a quest to discover the truth about his life.
Assignment: Listen to this story. Compare the research on Hidden Brain and the life of Truman Burbank. What about your life on social media? Discuss the realities of a social media world. Teens are on their smartphones when they are in the company of their peers, are we losing the ability to interact mindfully in the moment? Discuss.
ESPN Films: 30 for 30: The Two Escobars Pablo Escobar was the richest, most powerful drug kingpin in the world, ruling the Medellin Cartel with an iron fist. Andres Escobar was the biggest soccer star in Colombia. The two were not related, but their fates were inextricably - and fatally - intertwined. Pablo's drug money had turned Andres' national team into South American champions, favored to win the 1994 World Cup in Los Angeles. It was there, in a game against the U.S., that Andres committed one of the most shocking mistakes in soccer history, scoring an "own goal" that eliminated his team from the competition and ultimately cost him his life. 30 for 30: The Two Escobars Assignment Here |
Call Me Crazy: A Five Film
This is a compilation of 5 stories surrounding mental illness with an all-star cast. The first story is about Lucy, a Pre-Law student who struggles with schizophrenia and suffers a break-down when she stops her meds to prove the diagnosis is wrong. The second story is about Grace, the daughter of a bi-polar mother who's manic episode turns dangerous. The third story is about Alison, the sister of Lucy, who struggles to live in a family that is ruled by her sister's sickness. The fourth story is about Eddie, a stand-up comedian whose jokes take a dark turn as he struggles with depression. Finally, the last story is about Maggie, a recently returned veteran suffering from PTSD as a result of military sexual trauma. Assignment here Available here |
ESPN Films: 30 for 30 : Fantastic Lies
ESPN Films is proud to present its Emmy-nominated documentary series 30 for 30, and its 30-part digital short film series. The idea behind 30 for 30 was to commemorate ESPN's 30th anniversary by producing 30 films from some of today's finest directors. It was a disturbingly believable crime we’ve heard too many times before. In 2006, the Duke lacrosse team held a party and hired two exotic dancers for the night. After that night, one of the women accused three Duke players of sexually assaulting her in the bathroom, and from that moment on, the worlds of this woman, the three accused players, Duke University, and Durham, North Carolina changed. ESPN’s latest 30 for 30 documentary, Fantastic Lies, focuses on the Duke lacrosse scandal and will make you question the all-controlling power of authority and all of your college-focused prejudices. 30 for 30: Fantastic Lies assignment: Race, class, society, the college experience, so much on the line in Perfect Lies. Money, sex, power are powerful motivators for human behavior. Discuss each, in terms of the behaviors you observed in the film. Players, dancers, DA, police, media, the university: how and where do the choices made by these entities lead to Duke and Durham's history. |
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The Music Never Stopped
Based on the essay "The Last Hippie" from Dr. Oliver Sacks's book, "An Anthropologist on Mars." Tale of a father who struggles to bond with his estranged son Gabriel, after Gabriel suffers from a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. With Gabriel is unable to shed the beliefs and interests that caused their physical and emotional distance, Henry must learn to embrace his son's choices and try to connect with him through music. Films available on NetFlix Assignment: Read the last Hippie and discuss the film and Sacks essay. compare, contrast, and discuss your thoughts on Gabriel's (Greg's) life and condition. |
Star Wars IV: A New Hope
Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung described several archetypes that are based in the observation of differing but repeating patterns of thought and action that re-appear time and again across people, countries and continents. Assignment: Jung's main archetypes are not 'types' in the way that each person may be classified as one or the other. Rather, we each have all basic archetypes within us. Archetypes Here Explain the force. Is it a metaphor? For what? Explain. Using the links above, perform an archetypal analysis on Star War's main character's using examples from the film. Then what is your most prevalent archetype and why! Examples: Child: Luke Skywalker because . . . Hero: Luke Skywalker because . . . Wise Old Man / Sage: Obi Wan Kenobi because . . . Devil: Darth Vader because . . . |
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The Imitation Game
Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, the film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.
Three specific time periods in the life of Cambridge University Mathematics professor Alan Turing, A largely arrogant, antisocial, solitary and literal minded man, are presented. The first is the span of WWII, at the beginning of which he, an expert of puzzle solving, is hired by the British government to work on a team, whose secret project is to break what is largely seen as the unbreakable secret code behind the Nazis' communications machine, named Enigma, which if they can would give the Allies an advantage and possibly even end the war. The problem is that Enigma is recorded every day, so that even if the team can decipher a coded message transmitted by the Nazis, that code would be obsolete by the next day. There are 159,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible codes that could be input into Enigma.
Assignment:
Analyze and decode Alan Turing.
What is his his diagnosis?
Discuss how you think that diagnosis worked for or against the Enigma crack.
Discuss Turning's sexuality as a main theme of the film.
Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, the film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.
Three specific time periods in the life of Cambridge University Mathematics professor Alan Turing, A largely arrogant, antisocial, solitary and literal minded man, are presented. The first is the span of WWII, at the beginning of which he, an expert of puzzle solving, is hired by the British government to work on a team, whose secret project is to break what is largely seen as the unbreakable secret code behind the Nazis' communications machine, named Enigma, which if they can would give the Allies an advantage and possibly even end the war. The problem is that Enigma is recorded every day, so that even if the team can decipher a coded message transmitted by the Nazis, that code would be obsolete by the next day. There are 159,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible codes that could be input into Enigma.
Assignment:
Analyze and decode Alan Turing.
What is his his diagnosis?
Discuss how you think that diagnosis worked for or against the Enigma crack.
Discuss Turning's sexuality as a main theme of the film.

It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)
After contemplating suicide by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, 16-year-old Craig Gilner (Keir Gilchrist), decides to go to the hospital to seek help. Craig tells Dr. Mahmoud (Aasif Mandvi) that he needs immediate help to which Dr. Mahmoud registers Craig for a one week stay in the hospital's psychiatric floor. At first, Craig is unsure if he made the right choice to stay, mostly due to the fact that his friends might find out when he misses school, especially Nia (Zoë Kravitz), his crush and the girlfriend to his best friend Aaron (Thomas Mann). Also, he is placed in the adult ward because there are too few teenage patients, and he understandably feels uneasy and a bit scared being in the midst of so many adult psychotics.
Assignment:
Analyze and describe Craig. What is his diagnosis?
Discuss your beliefs regarding institutionalization in terms of mental illness.
Learn about and discuss the struggles that the author, Ned Vizzini dealt with in real life.
After contemplating suicide by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, 16-year-old Craig Gilner (Keir Gilchrist), decides to go to the hospital to seek help. Craig tells Dr. Mahmoud (Aasif Mandvi) that he needs immediate help to which Dr. Mahmoud registers Craig for a one week stay in the hospital's psychiatric floor. At first, Craig is unsure if he made the right choice to stay, mostly due to the fact that his friends might find out when he misses school, especially Nia (Zoë Kravitz), his crush and the girlfriend to his best friend Aaron (Thomas Mann). Also, he is placed in the adult ward because there are too few teenage patients, and he understandably feels uneasy and a bit scared being in the midst of so many adult psychotics.
Assignment:
Analyze and describe Craig. What is his diagnosis?
Discuss your beliefs regarding institutionalization in terms of mental illness.
Learn about and discuss the struggles that the author, Ned Vizzini dealt with in real life.
The Road Within
Alt Film Opportunity
Overview: We have had the opportunity to watch several documentaries that explore behavior and relationships. These films can be taken on several levels with the surface being what you see is what you get. I want you to dig deep and find meaning to these films. How do they relate to other aspects of behavior or mental processes.
Description: A film analysis is not a review or summary of the plot, it should go deeper into analysis and reaction. It should discuss the issues raised by the film, address the film’s importance and purpose, state reactions to the content and quality of the film, and connect it to ideas and material presented in class. It should be about 2 pages and include the following (in any order you choose).
Procedure:
Overview: We have had the opportunity to watch several documentaries that explore behavior and relationships. These films can be taken on several levels with the surface being what you see is what you get. I want you to dig deep and find meaning to these films. How do they relate to other aspects of behavior or mental processes.
Description: A film analysis is not a review or summary of the plot, it should go deeper into analysis and reaction. It should discuss the issues raised by the film, address the film’s importance and purpose, state reactions to the content and quality of the film, and connect it to ideas and material presented in class. It should be about 2 pages and include the following (in any order you choose).
Procedure:
- Describe the film in general terms. What subjects does it cover? Describe the plot and setting. What issues does it raise?
- What do you see as the main purpose of the film? What are the major theme(s) of the film?
- Evaluate the film for quality and interest. Comment on the script, direction, production values and music. Are any literary techniques such as symbolism, character development and foreshadowing used? Why would a young person be interested in this film?
- Relate the film to class discussions, readings, notes or knowledge. Is the film accurate and realistic? Does it contradict or support anything you have learned?
- Summarize briefly emphasizing the strengths and weaknesses of the film.