Join us for a screening and panel discussion of the third installment in the award-winning Mental Health Trilogy, The Upstanders. The film delves deep into cyber-bullying, showing the perspectives of those who bully, their victims, and the trauma of the bystander. Woven through this film is the very personal, first-hand account of a family’s tragic loss that inspired new legislation to turn the tide against this very real epidemic. As with all of the films in the trilogy, true stories are featured alongside the latest scientific and medical research, along with strategies to empower all communities to stand-up against bullying.
The 56-minute film features in-depth interviews with kids, families who have lost their children to cyber-bullying related suicide and the very best experts in the world from prestigious institutions including Stanford University and Child Mind Institute in NYC. The Upstanders also includes two members of Oprah’s 2020 Vision Tour: Jesse Israel of The Big Quiet, and Radha Agrawal of Daybreaker, and author of Belong.
Covid-19 has only exacerbated this problem of cyber-abuse, by providing a bully-ripe environment of isolation, anxiety and increased time on screens. Most often driven by pain, bullies are searching for that jolt of power when putting someone else down – and there is plenty of pain going around now.
“As I child, I was spat on, kicked and pushed into lockers,” says iNDIEFLIX Filmmaker & CEO SciIla Andreen. “As painful as that was, the meanness stopped at my front door, and I was safe when I got inside my home. But today, with the quick push of a few buttons, the bullies have the ability to persistently harass, humiliate and degrade their peers 24/7. We are eternally grateful to the Molak family who let us document their journey, as they channeled their grief into tangible change: the creation of David’s Law.”