Cameron Post (Chloë Grace Moretz) looks the part of a perfect high school girl. But after she’s caught with another girl in the back seat of a car on prom night, Cameron is quickly shipped off to a conversion therapy center that treats teens “struggling with same-sex attraction.” At the facility, Cameron is subjected to outlandish discipline, dubious “de-gaying” methods, and earnest Christian rock songs—but this unusual setting also provides her with an unlikely gay community. For the first time, Cameron connects with peers, and she’s able to find her place among fellow outcasts.
Writer/director Desiree Akhavan (Appropriate Behavior) and co-writer Cecilia Frugiuele sensitively adapt Emily Danforth’s acclaimed eponymous coming-of-age novel and create a refreshingly original teen movie. Balancing out inherent drama with understated humor, The Miseducation of Cameron Post looks at a teenage girl grappling with pain and loss, but at the same time, she is creating a family on her own terms and learning what it means to empower herself by having confidence in her own identity. The Miseducation of Cameron Post won the Grand Jury Prize for US Drama at the Sundance Film Festival, the event's highest honor.
After the screening, enjoy a Q&A with the author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Montana native and UM MFA graduate Emily M. Danforth and Matthew Shurka, the Born Perfect Strategist at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, moderated by UM English Professor Casey Charles.