High Score Trailer
After a young man is fired from his job as a result of his offensive behavior, he finds the perfect people to blame: minorities. Newly inspired by the white supremacist ideology of the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, we watch as he sinks into the darkest pits of the internet and takes the ideas he finds there as his own…
Winner of Best Short Film, Best Actor, and Best Thriller Short, ‘High Score’ examines the deadly impacts of conspiracy theories on vulnerable personalities and our community at large. We managed to catch up with filmmakers Serena Ryen and Ethan Itzkow and grab a few words with them about the film.
Thanks for chatting to us. Can you tell us how you came up with the idea for ‘High Score’?
In April 2019, while we were in Los Angeles preparing to attend a screening of our first film “CASHED,” the Poway synagogue shooting occurred not far away. It left us shaken and thinking of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting exactly six months before, and of countless others in recent years. The unlawful detainment of Central American people attempting to immigrate to the U.S. also weighed on us profoundly. We couldn’t shake the feeling that the inhumane conditions at our southern border’s detention centers seemed connected to the growing wave of white supremacist violence.
Was this the motivation behind the film?
It lit a fire inside us, an aching need to do more to better our world (or, like we say in the Jewish tradition, to contribute to the effort of Tikkun Olam). “High Score” was born of our need to drag the violent hatred fermenting in the shadows of our media into the light, to expose the interconnectedness of these conspiracy theories and the dangers they pose to human life, and to reveal the almost supernatural power of the internet to amplify extremist ideologies and radicalize people to violent actions.
Anything you would like to tell our readers?
We hope you’ll join our fight to end white supremacy and racial violence.
Thanks for you time.
For more details on ‘High Score’ and Schmeh Films Click Here.
For more indie film trailers Click Here.
