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On first glance, "Xmas Without China" seems to be a surprising next subject for Alicia Dwyer, the filmmaker who last brought us "Bully" and "Pandemic: Facing Aids." But the film's humor is filled with an undercurrent of social commentary, discussing America's reliance on foreign goods and our holiday traditions that blend to make one of the festival's more fascinating documentaries. What it's about: A Chinese immigrant challenges his American neighbors to survive the Christmas season without any Chinese products. Tell Us About Yourself: Alicia’s work recently appeared in theaters nation-wide in Bully, distributed by The Weinstein Company, for which she directed key material with the main character, Alex. Alicia was a director on The Calling, a four-hour PBS series that was a flagship of the 2010 Independent Lens season. She was associate producer of the 2004 Emmy Award-nominated HBO series Pandemic: Facing AIDS and of the 2001 Academy Award-winning feature...

This week on Blu-ray the latest James Bond film hits home video, a swell new coming of age pic is released, and the final season of a Showtime staple hits HD. Briefly: Skyfall (Blu-ray/ DVD + Digital Copy) - $19.99 (50% off) The Perks of Being a Wallflower [Blu-ray] - $16.99 (32% off) Bully [Blu-ray] - $12.99 (57% off) The Kid with a Bike (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] - $30.38 (24% off) The Man with the Iron Fists (Two-Disc Combo Pack: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) - $22.99 (34% off) Nurse Jackie: Season Four [Blu-ray] - $24.99 (37% off) The Sessions [Blu-ray] - $19.99 (33% off) Silent Hill: Revelation (Two-Disc Combo Pack: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) - $22.99 (34% off) Weeds: Season Eight [Blu-ray] - $19.99 (50% off) Hit the jump for special features details. Bully [Blu-ray] The anti-bullying documentary comes with the theatrical cut and a “special version” of the film that’s edited for a younger audience, though this new cut is only available on the Blu-ray. The extras also include a batch of deleted scenes,...

One of the most popular and powerful documentaries of last year, Lee Hirsch’s Bully is a film about the continuing crisis of bullying, which affects kids nationwide. In our own review, we call it “an intense, heartbreaking movie that every parent and school official should see.” Now it’s also a particularly important topic relevant to discussions of school violence. And it finally arrives on home video this Tuesday (February 12) on the heels of winning the Audience Choice award at the 2013 Cinema Eye Honors and finishing out the year as the fourth highest-grossing doc of 2012. You can go ahead and buy a copy right away, or you can try to win a DVD from Film School Rejects, and we’ll throw in a couple promotional anti-bullying rubber wristbands, on which are printed “It’S Time To Take A Stand.” The DVD, from Anchor Bay Entertainment and The Weinstein Compay, features...

Once considered by many as either high art, propaganda or educational videos, documentary film has developed into a popular and visible form of entertainment, sometimes breaking into the mainstream, and often having a greater effect on society. Every year it seems more and more docs are produced and thus not even our hard working staff can manage to get around to watching them all. But we try our best, and so every year we publish a list of the docs that received high praise from our team. This year, the films appearing range from poetic, semi-expository, strictly observational, participatory, reflexive and even groundbreaking. Here are the 20 best documentaries of 2012, list in alphabetical order, with one special mention. Enjoy!

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5 Broken Cameras

Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

5 Broken Cameras is a cinematic achievement, a homemade movie and an extraordinary work of political activism. Co-directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi,...

Malcolm McDowell Talks Killing Santa Claus in Silent Night, in theaters this Friday and on Blu-ray December 4th

If you were a gore hungry kid in the 80s, nothing was more exciting than getting your hands on a copy of the banned VHS holiday horror classic Silent Night, Deadly Night, which featured a killer Santa Claus on a bloody rampage. Though five-year-olds shrug with indifference at the notion today, back in 1984, the idea of Jolly Saint Nick crawling down the chimney to axe your mom in the face was quite controversial. A certain kind of rush came from popping this in your video player for the first time. It didn't matter if the movie was any good. It only mattered that we weren't supposed to be watching such blasphemous filth.

Here, nearly 30 years removed from that quaint moment in time, the idea of a killer Santa is blas&#233. Films don't...

Anchor Bay Entertainment and The Weinstein Company announced today the Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD release of Bully, the critically-acclaimed documentary film that sparked a national movement that rallied people to stand up to bullying, hate, and intolerance. Directed by Lee Hirsch, Bully follows the lives of five students whose stories each represent a different facet of America's bullying crisis, and the families that fight for them. A call to action, the film not only captured the attention of the country, but fostered a national dialogue about bullying, uniting parents, teachers, and students in the fight against the violence that has gone unchecked for too long in our schools. Timely and significant, Bully heads to retail on February 12, 2013 for an Srp of $29.99 for the Blu-ray Combo Pack and $24.98 for the DVD.

Time Magazine film critic Richard Corliss called Bully "A movie your kids must see." Wrote film critic Claudia Puig...

“Bully" Director: Lee Hirsch Documentary Rated PG-13 for intense thematic material, disturbing content, and some strong language -- all involving kids (initially rated R for some language) “Bully” follows a group of tweens and teens who've dealt with persistent bullying: lonely 12-year-old Alex faces daily physical and verbal abuse (particularly on the bus) in Sioux City, Iowa; out-and-proud 16-year-old Kelby is constantly besieged by the homophobia of her classmates and teachers in Tuttle, Oklahoma; and two sets of grieving parents attempt to honor their sons, who each committed suicide rather than live another day with the merciless taunting of their peers. Since Hirsch's documentary explores the many ways that bullying can affect and damage kids, I took two 13-year-old girls to see the film and discuss what they thought of the heartbreaking stories, and ultimately, the hopeful message. Which of the stories affected you the most? “The girl who came...

I salute Lee Hirsch! He created a documentary that is timely and much-needed. That movie, of course, is .Bully.. The Weinstein Co. film that was previously in limited release is slowly spreading across North America. So if it.s in your town, go watch .Bully!. ("Bully" Movie Review)

In this interview, we talked about:

*** The beginning of making the movie . how did .Bully. come about?

*** How did he choose the brave kids to be featured in the movie?

*** Why Alex.s story resonate the most

*** The MPAA battle . from R to PG-13

*** The film.s hopeful message . can we, as a society, really get over bullying?

But it.s all not dire seriousness in this interview, in the beginning, we were having mic issues, and Mister Hirsch blurted out that I have a lyrical voice, Ha!

Chicago – The age-old problem of bullying has reached epidemic proportions. Or is it simply more openly discussed? It seems that for once a light is being pointed at the dark corners of this punishing coercion, and the perpetrators and enablers involved – the bully, his parents, school administrators – are scurrying from that light. The new film “Bully” is an illumination.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Hardly a complete documentary, the film projects a point-of-view by telling stories around the country about school kids in the middle of a bully situation, and families who have been affected by the actions of bullies. At the same time, these stories also showcase the underlying issues surrounding the bully situations – blind mice school systems, frustrated parents, the crueler outside world and a justice-system-by-way-of-no-justice. The stories are fraught with sadness and suffering, and have a emotional gut kick. The question after watching this is, who will be most affected by it?...

In Alex Libby’s school, the principal is just as big a bully as the ones who victimize him on a daily basis, as shown when two of his classmates come back from recess soon after an altercation. One is a nice boy, offering his hand in apology, the other refuses to extend his hand or be sincere in returning the gesture. The principal pats the nice boy on the shoulder and sends him on his way and then proceeds to scold the other–the boy who was originally picked on. When he explains himself, he is denigrated while the guilty boy goes unpunished. That’s the tag team that plagues so many schools–bully and teacher–and is just one of the several real stories exposed in Lee Hirsch’s documentary Bully.

David and Tina Long, hail from Murray Country, Georgia and found their 17-year old son Tyler hanging...

Bully

Directed by: Lee Hirsch

Running Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: April 13, 2012 (Chicago)

Plot: A documentary that tells the stories of American youth who are bullied in their middle schools.

Who’S It For? Bully is made for both kids and their parents, but will provides little answers about dealing with such problems to either of them. The film’s main focus is to share horror stories (which are sadly true) about the damage that bullying does not just to children, but their parents as well.

Overall

For a “character-driven drama,” Bully is full of too many weakly developed subjects to squeeze much out of its audience other than relatable sympathy. We watch in anger the episodes of relentless bullying in Alex’s life, but showing a conclusion or a solution to his problems seems out of the question for the filmmakers. In not providing us this satisfaction,...

Bully Directed by: Lee Hirsch Written by: Lee Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen This year over 13 million kids will be subjected to bullying in one form or another. The problem has increased in magnitude with the advent of social media, allowing kids to attack one another from behind a keyboard or phone. Lee Hirsch tackles the hot button issue in his new documentary, Bully. It follows the stories of five families who have been directly impacted by bullying. No doubt Hirsch knows the best way to engage viewers in this type of issue is to put a face on it. Hirsch and producer Cynthia Lowen “embedded” themselves at a middle school in Sioux City, Iowa in order to chronicle the life of Alex, who is relentlessly bullied at school. He suffers physical and mental abuse from schoolmates, and is essentially ostracized by the entire student body. Alex was born prematurely and...

Bully is a new documentary that’s been getting a lot of buzz lately, not because of its topical subject, but because of a battle with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) over the rating the film was assigned. Due to an arbitrary ruling over language content (too many F-bombs) the doc was rated R, restricted. The film’s supporters led by distributor Harvey Weinstein believed that this would prevent many teenagers from seeing the film (and, hopefully, learning from it). But the MPAA would not budge, so Weinstein explored the possibility of releasing Bully unrated. Unfortunately many theatre owners will not book an unrated film and many outlets will not carry advertising for such a film. Finally, after a few cuts and lots of celebrity pressure, the rating has dropped to PG-13. Now that it’s finally in theatres we can get pass the big dust-up and see...

Bullying is a serious problem, or at least it's now being recognized as one.  But it's also a layered issue that can't simply be summed up by watching the suffering of kids and the gross negligence of school administrators.  Lee Hirsch's documentary Bully can never get beyond observing the problem, and the film's shapeless structure obfuscates more than it illuminates.  Hirsch finds a compelling central figure, but he's constantly distracted by the plight of other bullied kids, and yet he's unwilling to explore the details and questions raised by those kids' situation.  Worst of all, Bully relies on highly questionable manipulation in order to make its point, but it has no point when it comes to stopping bulling.  It just has a website. The movie opens with a heartbreaking scene of David Long telling how his son Tyler committed suicide because of bullying.  It's a powerful opening, and it...

In a Hollywood explosion seldom seen, Joe Eszterhas, the screenwriter for The Maccabees, the Jewish historical film Mel Gibson is making, published a nine-page letter accusing Gibson of being anti-Semitic and just doing the film to fix his reputation. Mel Gibson published a response saying Eszterhas was unprofessional and delivering a late, substandard script (that Warner Bros rejected).

Brian Moylan is stirring the pot again with an etiquette guide for straight people at gay bars. I have to admit though, I tend to agree with him. Back in my party days nothing could clear a dance floor full of shirtless circuit boys faster than some of this stuff, plus mixed drinks on the dance floor? Who does that?

Macy Gray is out with a new album and talking about her support for the Glbt community as well. The money line is "It’s a very powerful community in music. And,...

The Weinstein Company docu Bully has really touched a nerve. In the latest promotion for the Lee Hirsch-directed film, New York Yankees stars Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson and manager Joe Girardi took time to do a PSA to urge the audience to sign on to a website for the film and its Bully Project petition. The Yankees stars join an army of other celebs who’ve spoken out against bullying, on behalf of a film that already got more publicity than most documentaries before the MPAA changed the film’s R rating to a PG-13. Here’s the PSA:...

Washington - The heads of the nation's two largest teachers' unions stressed Tuesday night the need for government leaders to continue to focus on bullying prevention in an era of school funding shortages.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, co-hosted a screening of the new documentary, "Bully," and used the event to continue a call for bullying prevention. Among the steps discussed during the event were providing a classroom environment conducive to civility, alerting students to adults whom they could trust to discuss bullying and peer leadership initiatives.

"You can't be against bullying without actually doing something about it," Weingarten told HuffPost during a press availability prior to the screening. "At the end of the day, we need to take concise, tangible steps."

Weingarten said that educators need to avoid cutting funds for guidance counselors and others...

After weeks and weeks of controversy, manufactured or otherwise, the tumultuous story of The Weinstein Company’s anti-bullying documentary Bully has finally come to a close. For those who haven’t been following all of the hullabaloo, the fun all started when the MPAA ridiculously gave a Lee Hirsch-directed documentary meant to expose the escalating problem of bullying in U.S. schools an R-rating. Even though the movie taught a good lesson, the fact that it used the F word a few too many times deemed it unsuitable for our children’s bruised little ears. Never one to take a chance at free publicity lying down, the film’s producer Harvey Weinstein made a big stink about how unjust the rating was, and vowed to have it appealed. He did as much, and he even brought one of the bullied kids from the film, Alex Libby, to speak during the appeals process. Nonetheless...

“Just think of all the people who learned about Bully solely through some report on CNN.”

That’s what I said two and a half weeks ago when Harvey Weinstein, being such an independent spirit, decided to shirk the awful MPAA and release Bully into theaters with the unrated tag. When this all went down — after a back-and-forth between the two raised some eyebrows in the mainstream — it felt like a brave and transgressive move on the part of, really, any studio forced to make concessions on behalf of illogical rulings by people who had nothing to do with a film’s construction.

Wrong! A press release on TWC’s part announces that a few uses of the f-word being the sole exception, the same cut of Bully will be going into a wider release on April 13th with a PG-13 rating — just in time for all that press attention...

Bullies and non-bullies under 17 can now see "Bully" without an accompanying parent or adult guardian.

The Motion Picture Association of America has granted a PG-13 rating to a new cut of the controversial documentary, "Bully," that was recently submitted by The Weinstein Company. This decision by the MPAA is a "huge victory for the parents, educators, lawmakers and, most importantly, children everywhere who have been fighting for months for the appropriate PG-13 rating without cutting some of the most sensitive moments," according to a press release from TWC.

The Weinstein Company removed three instances of the "F" word in the new cut, but, oddly enough, the scene in which teen Alex Libby is bullied and harassed on a bus — an intense moment that has been at the forefront of the battle with the MPAA over the film's original R rating — remains completely intact and unaltered.

"I feel completely vindicated with this resolution,...

The Weinstein Company (TWC), aided by the guidance and consultation from attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson, announced today that the MPAA has lowered the R rating, given for some language, for Bully to a PG-13 in time for the film's April 13th expansion to 55 markets. The scene that has been at the forefront of the battle with the MPAA, the intense scene in the film that shows teen Alex Libby being bullied and harassed on a bus, has been left fully intact and unedited. Bully director Lee Hirsch felt editing the scene was not an option, and subsequently refused to do so, since it is too important to the truth and integrity behind the film. Also a victory is the exception the MPAA made by allowing the film to be released with the new rating before 90 days, which is the length of time their policy states a film must...

Following an extended battle with the Motion Picture Association of America, the documentary film Bully has at long last been granted a PG-13 rating.

Katie Couric Reveals Family Bully Victim

"I feel completely vindicated with this resolution," said Lee Hirsch, the film's director in a statement. "The support and guidance we have received throughout this process has been incredible."

In the months leading up to today's momentous decision, the film failed to get a PG-13 rating by just one vote despite an outpouring of support and petitions by schools, parents, celebrities and politicians.

Stars Rally to Support 'Bully'

At the center of the documentary's contentious struggle with the MPAA is a pivotal scene that shows teen Alex Libby being bullied and harassed on a bus. Director Lee Hirsch felt editing the scene was not an option, and chose to release the film in selective markets on March 30 as unrated.

"The scene that...

The ratings battle over "Bully" is over. In what amounts to a compromise for director Lee Hirsch's documentary distributed by The Weinstein Company, three uses of the "F word" have been removed from the film. But "the intense scene in the film that shows teen Alex Libby being bullied and harassed on a bus, has been left fully intact and unedited," according to a statement from The Weinstein Company. That scene includes three uses of the "F word" -- which are subtitled for clarity due to ambient noise during the scene -- more than the MPAA typically permits in a PG-13...

It's about time! The ongoing debate concerning Bully's rating has come to a close with the MPAA deciding to lower the documentary's R rating to PG-13 just in time for the film's April 13 release in 55 theaters. So what changed? Not much, surprisingly. According to the press release, the intense scene in the film that shows teen Alex Libby being bullied and harassed on a bus has been "left fully intact and unedited," mainly because director Lee Hirsch refused to alter it "since it is too important to the truth and integrity behind the film." However, three uses of the F-word have been edited out. "I feel completely vindicated with this...

I guess I am the only one that looks at the entire rating "controversy" surrounding the new documentary Bully as nothing more than trumped up marketing junk. When the film initially received an R rating for six uses of the 'F word' the Weinstein Co. immediately appealed the rating only to see the R-rating upheld. The studio then went on a several month marketing blitz, gaining attention for the film every step of the way, discussing how it couldn't be seen in schools with an R-rating, how they refused to cut the offending word and how this is a tragic failure on the part of the MPAA. Now before I continue, let's get one thing straight, I do not support the MPAA giving this film an R-rating. The idea was ridiculous. Then again, the MPAA has never been something we've looked at as a source of level-headed thinking when it comes to film ratings.

In a surprising turn of events, the Weinstein Company announced Thursday that a re-edited version of Bully has been granted a PG-13 rating by the MPAA.

The edits consisted of removing three of the movie’s six F-words. These edits do not involve a key scene in which teenager Alex Libby was verbally harassed on a school bus — that scene, which was at the center of the MPAA rating controversy, has been left fully intact and unedited. Instead, the cuts came from other moments, including one use of “motherf—er” toward the beginning of the film, director Lee Hirsch told EW.

The Weinstein Company announced today that the documentary Bully has been granted a PG-13 rating without the cutting of a crucial scene. Here is the full announcement: The Weinstein Company (TWC), aided by the guidance and consultation from attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson, announced today that the MPAA has lowered the R rating, given for some language, for Bully to a PG-13 in time for the film's April 13th expansion to 55 markets. The scene that has been at the forefront of the battle with the MPAA, the intense scene in the film that shows teen Alex Libby being bullied and harassed on a bus, has been left fully intact and unedited. Bully director Lee Hirsch felt editing the scene was not an option, and subsequently refused to do so, since it is too important to the truth and...

Film: Bully (2011) Director: Lee Hirsch (Amandia! A Revolution ii Four Part Harmony) Genre: Documentary (98 minutes) Tyler looked like an adorable kid in the home movies. "He always had an infectious laugh," his dad tells us. But as he grew older, he became more introverted. He wasn't very athletic, always the last to be chosen for team sports. Some kids called him names, such as "geek" or "fag." At first Tyler cried... "and then he didn't cry." Tyler's dad goes on: "Some kids had told him to go hang his self... that he was worthless. I think he got to a point where enough was enough." Tyler's dad has to speak for him now because Tyler finally did hang himself. The movie follows five kids who are still the victims of bullying, including 12-year-old Alex. Alex has a strong overbite, which is the reason kids in school call him "fish face.

Let's all agree up-front: Nobody likes a bully, and that's the easiest connection with the new buzzed-about documentary, "Bully," out today in New York and Los Angeles. I wasn't happy when Bobby Dreyfus told me I was flat-chested in the seventh grade when I was walking the halls between algebra and Spanish, and I didn't believe adults who told me it was his way of saying he liked me. It's still embarrassing to admit, and there wasn't any violence attached. Oh, and Bobby, I have boobs now. Hah! Most of us have been on the receiving end of some level of bullying, and if we are still alive to talk about it when we have our own adolescent children, then we're not like the unfortunate extreme cases, also chronicled in the movie, in which children have taken their own lives rather than get on the bus one more time.

It's...

Even before many have actually had the chance to see Bully, the documentary has sparked engaging conversation across the Internet. The film, which focuses on five different families and their teenagers, features emotional footage, including an especially harrowing school bus scene during which 12-year-old Alex Libby, who was born prematurely, suffers name calling, harsh taunts and physical abuse at the hands of his peers. It's that rough language used by Libby's schoolmates that initially earned the film an "R" rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. (The Weinstein Company decided to release the movie unrated, however, after an online...

If you.ve been living under a rock, you need to know that Bully.s an important film. Lee Hirsch.s heartbreaking documentary on the torments suffered by public and middle school children by bullies, shows that everyone bears some of the blame. The most egregious example of failure in protecting children from other children in this film is a school Vice Principal who clearly doesn.t understand what she.s seeing and hearing or she.s in full balls out denial. Her motivation may be to show her school in a good light .They.re good as gold. she smiles, about kids riding the school bus. However, Hirsch shows us horrifying footage of youngsters physically, verbally and emotionally bullying young Alex. He.s...

A mother from Yonkers, N.Y. took five children to see Bully yesterday. A few seats back, two parents brought their “shy” teenage son. And on the other side of the theater, two friends, 13- and 12-years old, asked the older girls’ mother to bring them after first learning about the movie from Justin Bieber’s Twitter account.

They were just a few of the many children-adult pairs in attendance at an afternoon showing of the film at an AMC theater on New York’s West Side, many of whom raised their hands to be recognized during director Lee Hirsh’s post-movie Q&A.

The Weinstein Company is pleased to announce that the documentary Bully is now playing in select theaters in New York and La. (Purchase your tickets at: http://thebullyproject.com/bullyticketingseefilm.html) After a recent plea to the MPAA by Bully teen Alex Libby and The Weinstein Company (TWC) Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein failed . by one vote . to get the film its deserved PG-13 rating, TWC is choosing to move forward with releasing the film unrated by the MPAA on March 30.

Check out the official music video for Stand Up by Mike Tompkins. Watch it and share it on YouTube

The film will also be opening in additional cities on April 13th. Want to see Bully in St. Louis? Wamg is giving away tickets to the screening on April 10th at Plaza Frontenac.

Official Rules:

1. You Must Be In The St. Louis Area The Day Of The Screening.

2. Fill Out Your Name And E-mail Address Below.

Few documentaries have been thrust into the national spotlight quite like "Bully" has -- and for good reason.

In the spring of last year, when director Lee Hirsch's film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, critics and festivalgoers immediately took notice, resulting in the Weinstein Company's swooping in to pick it up for distribution. No small feat. Everything was going smoothly leading up to this Friday's release -- until the film was slapped with an R rating by the MPAA. The surprise move by the ratings board made headlines, and angered Harvey Weinstein to no end.

He has good reason to be mad, and not just because the movie's R rating will hinder the film's box-office potential.

"Bully," a documentary that sheds some much needed light on the bullying epidemic in America, is the sort of film that demands to be seen by the generation it depicts. How can...

Alex will break your heart. The Iowa middle schooler so aches to be liked that when an older boy on the school bus threatens to kill him, he doesn't appreciate the danger. As he puts it to his mother, Jackie, "If you say these people aren't my friends, then what friends do I have?" By the time the documentarians shadowing Alex alert his parents the threats on the bus have escalated to physical violence, it's clear just how powerful Bully is - and how flawed. The intensely painful film (being released unrated after initially receiving a controversial, ridiculous R rating) focuses on Alex,...

Two controversies greet a documentary's opening this weekend. Salon is best on the one you've probably heard about; Slate uncovers another you likely haven't. Let's start with Salon's Andrew O'Hehir: "With its unerring instinct for being on the wrong side of every major social and aesthetic issue, the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board has refused to budge off its R rating for Bully, an earnest and moving documentary made for and about tormented preteens and teenagers." And "what's really perverse, of course — not to mention cruel and repellent — is a ratings decision that ensures that the kids who most need the succor that Bully has to offer are now the least likely to see it." Further in:

Without doubt, the MPAA has handed Bully director Lee Hirsch and Harvey Weinstein, whose company is releasing the film, a formidable marketing weapon and a tremendous amount of free publicity…. Mind you,...

Bully takes an unexpected look at schoolyard bullies by presenting the stories of the victims rather than taking an all-encompassing look at the problem. While it doesn't hold back when it comes to working the emotional speed bag, it begins to run out of steam when it fails to present and explore all sides of the issue.

Opening with the story of a 17-year-old kid in Georgia that took his own life after being harrassed in school it's quite clear the next 95 minutes or so are going to be quite sad. We listen to the stories from a 12-year-old in Iowa, a 16-year-old lesbian in Oklahoma, a 14-year-old in Mississippi and the family of a second child, this one 11-years-old, who also took his own life by hanging himself in his closet. The idea alone, of an 11-year-old killing him or herself, is enough to cause great sadness, but where...

I met Lee Hirsch -- the director of the shocking, often heartbreaking, but ultimately hopeful documentary Bully (watch the trailer here) -- on a pretty bad day for him. Bully follows three kids who are the victims of bullying and two sets of parents whose children committed suicide as a result of years of bullying. With a tragic rash of suicides by bullied teenagers over the past few years, you would think that all Americans would support efforts to educate both kids and adults about bullying, whether it's showing kids the potentially deadly consequences of bullying, helping parents and school administrators recognize the warning signs from kids who are being tormented, or urging everyone to get off the sidelines and help kids who are being bullied and need support. But when I met Hirsch, he had just received the news that the Motion Picture Association of America had upheld its...

Bully

Directed by Lee Hirsch

Written by Lee Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen

U.S.A., 2011

*Preface: The following review does not partake in the debate surrounding the film’s controversial ‘R’ rating in the United States.

The elementary and high school levels of a child’s academic journey make up some of their most formative years. This is true of course because of a young one’s performance in class but also for the types of interactions he or she engages in with others their age. Be a part of a supportive, inclusive group of trustworthy friends and chances are the developing child will turn out reasonably well. The flip side of the coin is the sad reality that some youngsters are never ‘part of a group’. These are the unfortunate children and teenagers whom the majority chooses to scorn, to shun, to frown upon, to intimidate, sometimes physically, to...

At one point in "Bully," a new documentary about the complex problem of bullying in American high schools, a mother of a bullied high schooler confesses that she feels like both she and her husband have failed their son Alex. He is constantly picked on when he rides the bus to school every morning. His mother briefly blames herself, saying that she doesn't feel like a good parent, before shifting the blame to her husband, an alpha male that we've previously seen encouraging Alex to confront his problem so that his younger sister won't have to suffer for his silence.

That tactic of shifting blame rather than openly discussing the root causes of bullying is typical of co-directors Lee Hirsch and Alicia Dwyer's crassly manipulative approach. "Bully" encourages viewers to wallow in the helplessness of the film's teenage victims and their parents.

To be clear: I don’t think...

It is estimated that over 13 million American kids will be bullied this year, making it the most common form of violence experienced by young people in the nation. The new documentary Bully puts a human face on that frightening statistic, with an unflinching look at just how deeply bullying effects kids and their families. By telling the stories of 12-year-old Alex from Iowa, 16-year-old Kelby from Oklahoma, 14-year-old Ja’Meya from Mississippi, and the families of 17-year-old Tyler Long and 11-year-old Ty Smalley, who both lost their sons to suicide after relentless bullying, the film captures a growing movement to change how bullying is handled in schools, in communities and in society as a whole. During this recent exclusive interview with Collider, filmmaker Lee Hirsch talked about how the idea for this documentary developed out of having been bullied as a kid, wanting to give a voice to kids who are suffering,...

For weeks, The Weinstein Company has engaged in a very public campaign to get the MPAA to overturn the R rating it slapped on Bully, a controversial documentary about kids behaving badly towards other kids. (The appeal was unsuccessful; the brothers Weinstein will release the doc as an unrated film instead.)

In the midst of all the drama, it’s easy to overlook something critical: Bully is an important, devastating movie that isn’t just about middle schoolers beating each other up. Five recently released clips from the film drive that point home — especially this one, which focuses on sweet 12-year-old Alex Libby.

By Josh Abraham

After a recent plea to the MPAA by Alex Libby, the teen subject of the controversial doc Bully, and The Weinstein Company (TWC) co-chairman Harvey Weinstein failed – by one vote – to get the film its deserved PG-13 rating, TWC is choosing to move forward with releasing the film unrated by the MPAA on March 30.

Click to read more…...

For those keeping score, Bully has been on the losing end of the ratings war, with the MPAA unwilling to budget on its decision to release it as an R rated movie, which in my opinion is just outrageous in so many ways.

The Weinstein Company has valiantly tried to overturn its ruling, going as far as distancing itself from the organization itself. But the MPAA still has refused to budget and now the movie company will release the movie as an unedited, as an unrated film.

So The Weinstien Company has issued a press release (via slashfilm) about releasing Bully as an unedited, unrated movie:

March 26, 2012 – New York, NY – After a recent plea to the MPAA by Bully teen Alex Libby and The Weinstein Company (TWC) Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein failed – by one vote – to get the film its deserved PG-13 rating, TWC is choosing to move forward with releasing...

After a recent plea to the MPAA by Bully teen Alex Libby and The Weinstein Company Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein failed – by one vote – to get the film its deserved PG-13 rating, TWC is choosing to move forward with releasing the film unrated by the MPAA on March 30. Furthering proof that the R [...]

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So this is how Harvey plans to get back the MPAA, to release it unrated. After a recent plea to the MPAA by Bully teen Alex Libby and The Weinstein Company (TWC) Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein failed – by one vote – to get the film its deserved PG-13 rating, TWC is choosing to move forward with releasing the film unrated by the MPAA on March 30. The Weinstein Company has officially announced that Lee Hirsch & Alicia Dwyer's documentary Bully will be released in limited New York & Los Angeles theaters starting this weekend, March 30th. If you've been curious to see this, now is the time to go see it - unrated - in theaters! The press release for the news contains some pretty harsh criticism of the MPAA's decision, stating: Furthering proof that the R rating for some language is inappropriate for a film that's meant to educate and ...

Say what you will about Harvey Weinstein — I do all the time! — but the man isn’t know to step back under pressure. After a flurry of controversy surrounding the R-rating of TWC’s forthcoming Bully, the group has announced their intention to forego a broken system and release the documentary into theaters with the rare “Unrated” tag.

This whole hullabaloo stems from the MPAA’s notion that Bully, with its two f-words, stood to receive an R — a designation that would lose the teenage demographic Weinstein claims to be aiming for — and, following an appeal that failed by one vote, The Weinstein Company has decided to take this new path. Although there’s an obvious publicity side to all this — just think of all the people who learned about Bully mutually through some report on CNN — the MPAA-hating side of me is, by default, 100% supportive of this move. Down with the man,...

HollywoodNews.com: After a recent plea to the MPAA by Bully teen Alex Libby and The Weinstein Company (TWC) Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein failed – by one vote – to get the film its deserved PG-13 rating, TWC is choosing to move forward with releasing the film unrated by the MPAA on March 30.

Furthering proof that the R rating for some language is inappropriate for a film that’s meant to educate and help parents, teachers, school officials and children with what’s become an epidemic in schools around the country, the fight against the rating continues on. The outpour of support by politicians, schools, parents, celebrities and activists for the film’s mission to be seen by those it was made for – children – has been overwhelming. Nearly half a million people have signed Michigan high school student and former bullying victim Katy Butler’s petition on Change.org to urge the MPAA to lower the rating.

After a recent plea to the MPAA by Bully teen Alex Libby and The Weinstein Company (TWC) Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein failed . by one vote . to get the film its deserved PG-13 rating, TWC is choosing to move forward with releasing the film unrated by the MPAA on March 30.

Furthering proof that the R rating for some language is inappropriate for a film that’s meant to educate and help parents, teachers, school officials and children with what’s become an epidemic in schools around the country, the fight against the rating continues on. The outpour of support by politicians, schools, parents, celebrities and activists for the film’s mission to be seen by those it was made for . children . has been overwhelming. Nearly half a million people have signed Michigan high school student and former bullying victim Katy Butler’s petition on Change.org to urge the MPAA to lower the rating.

After a recent plea to the MPAA by Bully teen Alex Libby and The Weinstein Company (TWC) Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein failed - by one vote - to get the film its deserved PG-13 rating, TWC is choosing to move forward with releasing the film unrated by the MPAA on March 30.

Furthering proof that the R rating for some language is inappropriate for a film that's meant to educate and help parents, teachers, school officials and children with what's become an epidemic in schools around the country, the fight against the rating continues on. The outpour of support by politicians, schools, parents, celebrities and activists for the film's mission to be seen by those it was made for - children - has been overwhelming. Nearly half a million people have signed Michigan high school student and former bullying victim Katy Butler's petition on Change.org to urge the MPAA to lower the rating.