Finding Kind

Bullying is a hot topic these days. It’s not that it hasn’t been occuring for ages, but the posting of chick fights on YouTube.com and the suicide of Phoebe Prince, among other events, have brought the issue to the forefront of society’s collective conciousness. In fact, two films premiered at this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival that deal directly with the cruelty kids inflict upon each other.

One is a fictional story “inspired by true events” called That’s What I Am. It stars gifted actors Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, as well as newcomers Chase Ellison, Alexander Walters, and Mia Frampton, and depicts a year in the life of a handful of eighth graders—bullies and their victims—and the rumors, physical abuse, and emotional taunting perpetrated.

Finding Kind is the other festival entry that explores bullying and its consequences. Kind is a documentary and focuses on females only—i.e., Girl World. The brainchild of Lauren Parsekian, a film studies graduate of Pepperdine University, Finding Kind chronicles Lauren and cohort Molly Stroud as they travel around the country for more than a month spreading awareness of bullying and implementing school programs to combat it under mantel of the Finding Kind Campaing. The result is an eye-opening, heart-rending account of the torment that virtually every young girl endures from other girls. Hope is also alive in the film as Lauren and Molly confront the rampant problem and then offer solutions.