Seventeen

Directed by: Joel DeMott, Jeff Kreines

1983 | USA | 120 min | Unrated

Back in 1983 a deafening media doombeat preceded the nuclear-apocalypse TV movie The Day After. But you know what was too scary to show on TV? Seventeen, a cinéma vérité documentary about high-school life in Muncie, first banned by PBS for its foul language and frankness about underage sex and pregnancy, interracial dating, racial hostility, and the sucking void of a teenage Muncie existence. “One of the best and most scarifying reports on American life to be seen. It has the characters and language as well as the vitality and honesty that haunt the memory.” Vincent Canby, New York Times.

On Thursday: a discussion led by Prof. Andrew Winer. Limited seating: reserve online.

Winner Grand Jury Prize Documentary, Sundance, 1985