US KIDS
Film poster for "Us Kids" with two people holding signs and yelling.
US KIDS
Film poster for "Us Kids" with two people holding signs and yelling.
Determined to turn tragedy into action, survivors of a school shooting catalyze an unprecedented youth movement that spreads like wildfire across the world

US KIDS

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WATCH ON DOCUSEEK

OFFICIAL SELECTION - Sundance Film Festival BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY AWARD - Montclair Film Festival | BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD - MountainFilm | HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Educational Media Reviews Online

Generation Z & Mental Health/Trauma • Activism • Gun Violence Prevention • Inclusive Movement Building • High School • Civic Engagement • Mental Health • Gun Reform Legislation • Gun Violence Prevention Research • Gun Violence as a Public Health Issue

Date of Completion: 2020 | Run Time: 86 minutes​​ | Language: English | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director: Kim A. Snyder | Producers: Maria Cuomo Cole, Lori Cheatle & Kim A Snyder

“Us kids are the only ones prepared to call BS!”
- X Gonzalez

From Kim A. Snyder, director of the Peabody Award-winning documentary Newtown, comes an insightful, rousing coming-of-age story of a generation of youth leaders determined to take the reins and fight for justice at a most critical time in our nation’s history. Sparked by the plague of gun violence ravaging schools, US KIDS offers unprecedented access to the March For Our Lives movement, following X Gonzalez and other co-founders and survivors over the course of several years. These teenage activists pull off the largest youth protest in American history, setting out to build an inclusive and unprecedented youth movement that addresses gun violence prevention, racial justice, a growing public health crisis and shocking a political system into change. At the same time, this group of driven, resilient, empathetic young people must navigate the personal consequences of their remarkable choice to dedicate their own lives to honor the fallen and take back democracy.

Los Angeles Times
"‘Us Kids’ is indispensable viewing for anyone who genuinely cares about the future of this country ... Snyder’s film navigates the waters of apathy and despair on a vessel of hope."

Educational Media Reviews Online | Kimberly Poppiti, St. Joseph's College, Patchogue, NY
Highly Recommended "Through action and activism, the students seek to heal and to affect change in the world ... It will be worthwhile viewing for general high school and college classrooms, and of specific interest to those in the areas of political activism, communication studies, social movements, psychology, and terrorism."

Video Librarian
Highly Recommended
"The documentary is unflinching. It lets the survivors talk eloquently, passionately, ranting, sarcastically, stuttering, and most important authentically."

Booklist | Reviewed by Candace Smith
"Teen viewers are sure to be moved to action by these young advocates."

The Hollywood Reporter
"A compassionate portrait eager to let its subjects speak for themselves.

Variety
"A potent testimony to the impact of citizen protest."

HyperAllergic
"Us Kids is not about a mass shooting; it’s about a generation with a fresh set of convictions."

The Guardian
"Us Kids is chiefly concerned with the weight of attention – its costs, inequality and real potential for more than lip-service change – on the [...] generation of young people traumatized by gun violence."

The Independent
"Us Kids demonstrates the troubling realities this group of young people have had to absorb as a result of their activism."

MSNBC | Joshua Jackson
"It’s remarkable, it’s really really good."

Kim A Snyder's most recent feature documentary, US KIDS premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Prior, she directed the Peabody award-winning documentary Newtown, which premiered in the US Competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Newtown screened at premiere festivals worldwide and was theatrically released followed by a national broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens and Netflix. Her most recent short, Lessons from a School Shooting: Notes from Dunblane, premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was awarded Best Documentary Short followed by the DocDispatch Award at the 2018 Sheffield DocFest and a Grierson Award nomination. Lessons… is a Netflix Original and is streaming in 196 countries. Snyder’s prior works include the feature documentary, Welcome to Shelbyville, nationally broadcast on PBS’s Independent Lens in 2011, and over a dozen short documentaries. Kim’s award-winning directorial debut feature documentary, I Remember Me was theatrically distributed by Zeitgeist Films. In 1994, she associate-produced the Academy Award-winning short film Trevor. Kim graduated with a Master’s in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and resides in New York City.

Youth Activist Featured in US KIDS 

REQUEST A GOOD TALK WITH SAM FUENTES

On February 14, 2018 a gunman wielding an AR-15 entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and fired on students, faculty, and staff. Seventeen people lost their lives and many others were wounded. Samantha Fuentes was amongst the injured in the Parkland tragedy, and while fortunate to be alive, her body and life changed forever. She has bullet shrapnel permanently embedded in her legs and behind her right eye, and currently manages symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She lost revered friends and faculty members. Despite these tragic events, today, Samantha is resolved and committed to a poignant mission: to make sure that no child or adult is devastated by senseless and preventable gun violence ever again.

Youth Activist Featured in US KIDS

REQUEST A GOOD TALK WITH ALEX KING

Alex King is a youth activist from Chicago, Illinois and a member of the North Lawn College Preparatory High School’s Peace Warriors Foundation, where he graduated in 2018 and has been a leading student voice against gun violence in America's schools and communities. Peace Warriors’ goals has been to interrupt nonsense, to interject love and kindness; they are ambassadors of peace. The members live off the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, living a non-violent life and teaching Kingian nonviolence. Peace Warriors partnered with March For Our Lives in 2018 to address gun violence reform in Chicago and across the nation.

Youth Activist Featured in US KIDS

REQUEST A GOOD TALK WITH BRIA SMITH

Bria Smith is a 20 year old Junior studying Journalism and Africana Studies at Emerson college. Native to Milwaukee, WI, she started her organizing with black and brown collectives against gun violence. Smith has also mentored and taught young girls safe sex practices and health initiatives. After being crowned Miss Juneteenth in 2017, Smith entered political advocacy and joined the Milwaukee Youth Council as the 6th district representative. Later in 2019, Smith would become President of the council. In 2018, Smith teamed up with the Parkland students and embarked on a two month journey across 25 states to register youth voters and raise consciousness around gun violence. In 2019, Smith became one of the youth board members of March For Our Lives. During the summer of 2020, with the rise of a global pandemic and Black Lives Matter revolution, Smith and a few Milwaukee youth organizers teamed up underneath 50milesmore and Marched 65 miles to their state's capital, Madison. Since then, Smith has focused her political advocacy around Abolition Thought theory, gun violence prevention and the liberation of Queer folks.