High School Radical | Digital productions ARTE

High School Radical

A co-production by ARTE France, Les Bons Clients, and Studio POV.

At 16, Max sets off with dreams in his heart and a GoPro slung over his shoulder, for an exchange year at an Oklahoma high school. Since then, Donald Trump has become president, the Capitol has been stormed, and abortion bans have spread across the country. On the eve of Trump’s potential second term, Max returns to see his old friends, hoping to understand what their lives reveal about the shifting landscape of American society.

High schools, fast-food restaurants, saloons, quiet residential suburbs… The small town of Owasso ticks every box of America’s picture-postcard image immortalised in films and TV shows. For Max, the teenager who found himself plonked down among its welcoming locals, it was paradise. But beneath his idealised vision of America lie the beliefs of those who crave change sometimes at any cost.…

Available on these platforms

  • arte.tvSoon
  • YoutubeSoon

Technical Info & Short Credits

Format
Series
Genre
Documentary
Duration
4x20
Technique
Live action
Director
Max Laulom
Scriptwriter
Max Laulom
Producers
Loïc Bouchet, Gilles Berthaut and Max Laulom
Production
ARTE France, Les Bons Clients and Studio POV

Unique features

  • From Dream to Reality: A Search for Common Ground

    Young Max sought the American dream. Now he walks MAGA’s heartland, not as an outsider but to reckon with those he loves

  • High School Radical: From Vlog to Doc

    Shot entirely on a smartphone in raw first-person, Max drags us into a live wire portrait of America today.