Film Forum

A high school A/V assignment goes full-on activist when English teacher Fred Isseks sends students, armed with video recorders, on an investigative assignment to suss out the brown muck surfacing at the local dump in their upstate New York town. The toxicity they discover lives not only in the landfill, but in political corruption and environmental injustice in their community. Archival footage of their 1996 class project, “Garbage, Gangsters, and Greed,” outtakes, diaries, and interviews with Fred and several students 30 years later weave a sobering yet buoyant story both timely and for the ages, about fighting the good fight as its own life-changing triumph.

Presented with support from The Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries

2025     110 MIN.     USA

Reviews

CRITIC'S PICK “High school journalists who put their professional counterparts to shame; environmental advocates who push back on polluters; an oddball teacher who leaves an enduring mark on his pupils: TEENAGE WASTELAND has them all... But while Moss and McBaine have found an entertaining way of organizing the material, the real treasure trove here consists of the students’ own work. In interview after interview, they politely ask tough questions of adults—a local newspaper editor, a county executive—who appear to be expecting softballs.”
– Ben Kenigsberg, The New York Times

“MAGNIFICENT... A FILM THAT REMINDS YOU WHY YOU LOVE DOCUMENTARIES... A paean to the power of an educator to shape minds for the better... A masterclass in the use of archival material... Another magnificent film from two of the most accomplished non-fiction filmmakers of their generation.”
– Jason Gorber, POV Magazine

“DELIGHTFUL. Restores a little faith in human nature... The students’ integrity offered a view of the world through fresh eyes.”
– Nicolas Rapold, The Financial Times

“Equal parts SCOOBY-DOO and ERIN BROCKOVICH.”
– Mia Galuppo, The Hollywood Reporter

“Inspirational... The pride felt by those who returned for an interview is deeply affecting. A compelling piece of straightforward true-crime that makes the most of its throwback form.”
– Jacob Oller, A.V. Club

“A hit at the Sundance Film Festival... A genuinely uplifting portrait of activism under fire... Movingly, a tale about teachers and the life-altering impact they can have on impressionable youth.”
– Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“Filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss know their way into the good graces of the young. Through such documentaries as the Emmy-winning BOYS STATE and GIRLS STATE, they’ve also carved a niche for themselves in honoring their youthful subjects’ idealism and energy. With [TEENAGE WASTELAND], they add a twist to that gift. In bringing together Isseks and four of the most dogged of Middletown High School’s reporters, now adults, the directors tell a story of teenage tenacity but also one of adults grappling with the grit and hopes of their younger selves. That could have been overly sentimental. It’s not. With access to Issek’s voluminous, well-kept archive of VHS tapes and files, McBaine, Moss and editor Christopher Passig (Telemarketers) craft a story that has the beats of a 60 Minutes segment with hints of the emotional insights of a John Hughes movie.”
– Lisa Kennedy, Variety

“Juggles ’90s nostalgia with an optimism for student journalism that avoids over-sentimentality... It’s a delight to see these kids, so green under the gills but full of passion, ask hard questions to a jaded local newspaper editor (who tries in vain to sneer at the whippersnappers asking him to follow up on their work)... The story they’re uncovering is so full of local color: take the grizzled landfill workers who look and feel just like Popeye, or the anonymous tipster ‘Mr. B,’ a wise-guy cop who’d feel right at home as a one-scene wonder in a Scorsese picture, and whose bombshell info ends up tying the scandal to organized crime. Each phase of the investigation unravels new layers of corruption and institutional rot, which then fuels the kids’ rebellious impulse to unravel the whole damn thing.”
– Clint Worthington, RogerEbert.com