Waiting for "Superman"

Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim reminds us that education “statistics” have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily, whose stories make up the engrossing foundation of WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN".

As he follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth, Guggenheim undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying “drop-out factories” and “academic sinkholes,” methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly intractable problems.

However, embracing the belief that good teachers make good schools, and ultimately questioning the role of unions in maintaining the status quo, Guggenheim offers hope by exploring innovative approaches taken by education reformers and charter schools that have—in reshaping the culture—refused to leave their students behind.”

Davis Guggenheim

Davis Guggenheim is an American film director and producer. His credits as a producer and director include Training Day, The Shield, Alias, 24, NYPD Blue, ER, Deadwood, and Party of Five and the documentaries The First Year and Teach. He directed and produced An Inconvenient Truth, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.His most recent feature film is Gracie.

His 2010 documentary Waiting for "Superman", about the failures of American public education, received the Audience Award for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Its public release will be in October 2010.

More on Davis Guggenheim

• Waiting for "Superman"

• Waiting for "Superman" IMDB

• Davis Guggenheim Wikipedia