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Sundance 2025 Review: Middletown

Credit: Sandra Phipps

In the early 1990s an unconventional high school teacher leads his students on a journalistic crusade against the toxic waste being unsafely dumped in their community and uncover a vast conspiracy.

The opening starts happily with archive footage of high school teacher Frank Isseks getting into his car parked in New York City and driving to the idyllic rural setting of Middletown. The carefreeness carries on as his students participating in his Electronic English class have a fun time creating personal projects like rap videos. The tone shifts when Issek decides to take an investigative journalism approach to the broadcast video medium with the questionable practices of the local garbage landfill site being of particular interest. What is initially seen by some as being a lark becomes an exposé of political, corporate and criminal corruption at the expense of the health and well-being of the local inhabitants.

Check out all of our Sundance coverageBy packing the unpolished footage captured by the students of Middletown High School in the early 1990s into a more professional production, filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine emphasize the transformation of free-spirited teenagers into environmental and social activists. Key participants in the Electronic English class return 30 years later to reflect on what the experience meant to them at the time and the lasting impact it has had on their lives. In the middle of the maelstrom is Frank Isseks who is initially viewed as a beatnik but gains validation and admiration from his pupils; it is a credit to him that he was able to get a group of teenagers to teach the adult population a lesson in how to stand up for their community despite the mounting opposition against them.

The reenactment segue shots are jarring as the clarity of the imagery clashes with the grain of the archival video footage. It is interesting to learn that a couple of the students did successfully pursue a career in film and television; however, disheartening to find out that the journalistic efforts resulted in half-measures to somewhat address the issue which is causing birth defects in humans and animals. The message is not that resistance is futile but rather it is better to put up the good fight despite the odds as there is no other way that change can occur and for people to grow into conscientious members of society.

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival takes place January 23 to February 2, 2025, in person and online, and for more information visit sundance.org.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.

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One Comment

  1. The teacher’s name is FRED Isseks.

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