Metro Filmmaker's Take on Bullying, 'A Girl Like Her,' Shot in Birmingham Has Saturday Screening in Novi

Amy S. Weber, third from left, is shown with cast members from “A Girl Like Her,” a documentary that TIME magazine said “shows what’s really going on in American schools.” (Photo via Radish Creative Group)

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“A Girl Like Her,” Royal Oak filmmaker Amy S. Weber’s jarring look at bullying offering the perspectives of the bulliers and the person being bullying, will be screened Friday at Emagine Novi.

Weber will moderate a Q&A at the fre showing at 11 a.m. Saturday, according to Hometownlife.com. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, so educators, parents and students are encouraged to arrive at the theater by 10:30 a.m. Emagine is located in the Twelve Mile Crossing at Fountain Walk entertainment complex.

Shot primarily Birmingham’s Seaholm High School in 2012, “A Girl Like Her,” shines a light on what has become a nightmarish reality for many teens. Consider this:

“Seriously, Jessica,” Avery Keller, the leader of a cruel clique, says in one segment, “if you disappeared, the world would be a better place. Just go end yourself.”

“A Girl Like Her” is intended to be an educational film that will be seen around the world.

“Our hope is that we tour the country and parts of the world, because we know this is an epidemic that goes way beyond our borders,” she told Hometownlife. “Our goal for this screening is to motivate parents, students and educators to bring this film to their schools at the start of the upcoming 2015-16 school year to begin a new dialogue surrounding the issue of bullying.

“Once they see it for themselves, we believe they will want to screen it for their entire school,” she said.

The film, which TIME magazine said “shows what’s really going on in American schools,” was nominated for a 2015 Voice Award

Weber, who wrote the script for the movie released by her company, the Radish Creative Group of Royal Oak, uses techniques that make the film appear like a real-life documentary, the Detroit Free Press said. It includes social media clips and footage shot by the camera crew that is part of the cast and plays a key role in the plot.

Here’s the synopsis:

“Sophomore year has been a nightmare for Jessica Burns. Relentlessly harassed by her former friend Avery Keller, Jessica doesn’t know what she did to deserve the abuse from one of South Brookdale High’s most popular and beautiful students. But when a shocking event changes both of their lives, a documentary film crew, a hidden digital camera, and the attention of a reeling community begin to reveal the powerful truth about ‘A Girl Like Her.’ ”

Hunter King of “The Young and the Restless” plays Avery, and Lexi Ainsworth, formerly of “General Hospital,” plays Jessica.

The film is sympathetic to Jessica, but doesn’t demonize Avery. Instead, it attempts to look at the turns in Avery’s life that made her angry and hurtful toward others.

Weber, who has made dozens of educational films through the Radish Creative Group, used a crowd-funding campaign to raise $25,000. She decided to produce the film as an independent venture because she thought she would have a hard time selling it to big studios.

“They know how to market comedy to teens,” Weber told the Detroit Free Press last spring. “This is too real and too serious, and it goes a little bit over their heads.”

Much of the dialogue in the film is improvisational to lend authenticity, Weber said.

“And because this was inspired by so many real stories, I wanted to be as genuine as possible,” Weber said.

Filmmaker Experienced Bullying from Both Sides

Weber, who said she experienced bullying as a child and then turned the tables and became the bully in some of her later childhood friendships, said the film is “really about the youth experience today and what’s happening and the relationship between two former friends and what unravels around them when this experience happens.”

Weber attended a city council meeting with her wife and two daughters, speaking publicly about the differences in modern families.

“We talk every day about different families and different types of people, and teaching respect and kindness,” she said at the time. “That is the heart that beats in our home. It’s about being kind, about choosing love over everything.”

Though “A Girl Like Her” is about teen bullying, the message about treating one another with kindness is universal, Weber said.

“As someone who believes we can overcome this, we have to go into those uncomfortable places to get to the heart of the subject,” she says.

Watch the trailers below.