Thoughts & Prayers

Zackary Canepari's 2025 documentary is about the active shooter drills carried out in American schools. Children are taught what to do in the event of an armed attack, and the drills are repeated through the year. The argument is that the protection itself does harm. Students, parents and teachers describe the constant state of alertness the drills produce; the narrative shows this not through statistics but through footage inside the classroom. The film does not enter the debate on gun regulation directly and proposes no solution. The camera stays in the classroom during the drills, and sound and waiting build the real tension. Who it's for: those who follow American social documentary. Who it's not for: viewers for whom seeing children in fear would sit heavily; the documentary records it directly.