30th Annual - June 10 - 13, 2010
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Class Act
documentary
Running Time: 90
More than 20 years have passed since New York producer Heather Winters and California director Sara Sackner graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School, a huge public high school with a big fat love of football. Besides sharing a professional relationship, the filmmakers share something else - a favorite teacher - Jay W. Jensen. When the filmmakers decided to go back to school to tell the extraordinary story of their high school drama teacher, Jay W. Jensen, they knew they would be telling the 50 year story of a man who dedicated his life to education, saved every penny, and became known as the Teacher to the Stars.What they didnt know is the real story they would uncover. The drama program Jay created and ran for over 30 years, 7 days a week, day and night, no longer existed. Sackner and Winters set out on a journey across the country, talking to everyone from teachers, principals, administrators, government leaders (on both sides!), and students themselves, turning their camera lens on the American public school system only to discover the arts were disappearing from the American classroom at an alarming rate.CLASS ACT weaves Mr. Jensens personal story with the fate of arts education in America today, giving us a report card on what lies ahead for Americas children. But the story doesnt end in the classroom. With a starting salary of just $2,000 in 1959, Jay secretly amassed millions. To the astonishment of everyone, he then did the most extraordinary thing: he gave it away in the name of education and the arts becoming the most unlikely philanthropist. Today, Jay continues to inspire thousands of students - fat, thin, shy, extroverted, gay, straight, under achiever and academic powerhouse - to follow their dreams. Jay alumni include a virtual whos who of Hollywood, including actor Andy Garcia, film director Brett Ratner, songwriter Desmond Child, music executive Jos Behar, Broadway producer Adam Epstein, casting director Debra Zane, and sportscaster Roy Firestone, as well as the filmmakers themselves.
Producer: Heather Winters
Director: Sara Sackner
Screenwriter: Heather Winters, Sara Sackner, Joe Morley
Editor: Sean P. Keenan
Cinematographer:
Music: Elliott Goldkind, Morgan Winters
Cast: Andy Garcia, Brett Ratner, Jose Behar, Desmond Child, Debra Zane, Anthony Davis, Adam Epstein, Sandy Veith, Roy Firestone, Alfie Kohn
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