Spotlight events feature conversations with high-profile film and television industry professionals who share helpful advice and insights on their career experiences and creative process. You do not need to have seen the work to participate.
Lauren Greenfield’s groundbreaking docuseries Social Studies captures teen life in all its unruly, digital-age complexity. The five-episode series aired on FX to rave reviews for its depiction of the first generation raised by social media.
The project follows a group of teenagers as they navigate the anxieties of young adulthood, social media, and post-Covid-era isolation. Greenfield films her adolescents with verite intimacy and has full access to their phones through screen-record technology. This approach lets viewers experience the teens’ real-world identities and online personas side by side, revealing how both exist—and evolve—in tandem.
The series, as a result, depicts our tech-infused existence like no documentary before it.
Greenfield is the celebrated documentary filmmaker behind The Queen of Versailles, winner of the US Documentary Directing Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Her other projects have included Generation Wealth, The Kingmaker, and the award-winning #likeagirl Super Bowl commercial.
For this Spotlight event, Greenfield will discuss how she captured the digital lives of the insecure, clout-chasing teenagers of Social Studies. She will also share insights on creating her first docuseries, gaining the trust of her participants, and her own personal thoughts on social media.
If you would benefit from an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please complete this form, contact us at (435) 776-7790 , or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to discuss your specific needs. Every effort will be made to accommodate advance requests; requests made within 5 days of the event may not be guaranteed.
Live event registration for Sundance Collab Spotlight Events is free of charge. A recording of this event will be posted to our Video Library the next business day following the event. All registered attendees can watch the recording for two business days after it is posted. After that, on-demand access to the recording can be purchased for $10.