About
Critical What?! Documentary
Critical What? A 70 minute documentary that follows ten youth on their journey to become changemakers of unfairness in their lives. Nine of the youth succeed in directing their own five short documentaries.
Critical Thinking
Washington State youth volunteers, ages 10 to 15, learned and practiced critical thinking.
Media Literacy
Youth engaged with peer mentors and experts to learn media literacy skills.
Questions?
What is Critical What?!
Critical What? follows the journey of a group of young people ages 10-15 as they became changemakers with the tools of media literacy and critical thinking.
What unfairness did the youth research?
The youth explored, researched, and with a camera in their hands, documented their experiences with equity and inequity in their chosen areas: homelessness, education, the metaverse, a women's role in society and the banning of books.
How did they learn critical and creative thinking?
The youth increased critical and creative thinking skills through workshops on storytelling, research and interviewing and the essentials of documentary filmmaking.
Isn't this a national issue?
Though Critical What? is a locally based documentary, it examines the national controversy that grew from the banning of books, restrictions on language and areas in history that speak to practices of inequity as well as equity labeled by some as Critical Race Theory.
Where can we see the youth documentaries?
The youth documentaries were screened on Saturday, December 9th at 4PM at Northwest Film Forum. Each documentary is being submitted to film festivals. Local screenings have been requested and are in progress. We will post future screenings on this website. If you would like to be contacted about a future screening, please email us at criticalwhatdocumentary dot com.
What's coming in 2024?
The youth process of becoming changemakers plus interviews with experts, scholars and key people will be edited into a 70 minute documentary.