Banned Book Bus Documentary

Hi! we are Summer LaFleur and Jack Menasco and we are working on creating an independent documentary about education in America. Here is the full description:

Made for students by students, creative director and cinematographer Jack Menasco and investigative journalist and founder of the Banned Book Bus Summer LaFleur embark on a cross country adventure to expose the injustice, racism, hate, and oppression embedded in the education system. Through expert interviews, archival research, passionate narration, and the highlighting of stories and voices, this film aims to create change towards a more equitable future through education and awareness, policy, and the empowerment of young people. From their hometown in Northern California to the capital of the U.S., the most rural parts of Texas, and finally to Arkansas, the filmmakers strive to expose and explore the darkest, most grizzly parts of the nation while celebrating the bravery of those who wrestled with them. This documentary is as much an expose on injustice as it is a display of the resilient joy and strength within the affected communities.

We are still in high school, so we made this film from the perspective of students, for students. We are so excited about this project! Your support means everything to us, and any and all donations or support would be so so appreciated. The money would go towards paying off the camera gear, plane tickets, and buying books for the organizations that will appear in the documentary. We will also work on sharing the film through submission to film festivals, local screenings, social media, and YouTube.Thank you all so much for watching!

Sincerely,

Summer and Jack

Some more about us-

Jack:

I have found throughout my life that film is a uniquely powerful medium. Out of the many topics I’ve dabbled in, film has probably been the most powerful in conjuring amazement. I’ve found this to be especially true over the past year. I never truly realized it until now, but since I received a GoPro in 6th grade, I’ve been regularly making videos which I’m rather fond of. To me, it’s always been like “wow this a cool little video” but as times progressed, I’ve realized that this medium holds so much untapped potential. It took me some time to realize that all the famous documentaries and movies utilize the same medium I’m working in right now. Why can’t I create something like that? I’m pretty sure I can, so here I go.

Summer:

My passion started with banned books, but it has evolved as I learn more about the reasons behind the bans. The education system in America was created to benefit only a fraction of its residents, deepening the disparities, and prioritizing greed. Between censorship, limiting curriculum, institutional oppression, and underfunding, we have created a culture that does not value its students in a supportive and constructive way. What is wrong with the American education system? What does the future of learning look like? I hope to answer these questions and find solutions to the issues through interviews, studies, history, investigative journalism, and stories– using the Banned Book Bus as a catalyst and Jack’s film/documentary as a medium. This project will be focusing on three aspects of education: Book banning and censorship, institutionalized oppression and history, and funding and food.

The Banned Book Bus:

https://www.thebannedbookbus.com