Teenage Explores Adolescence Worldwide

Photo complements of Tribeca Film Festival 

"Those who get the youth get the future."

Teenage is a documentary like no other. Directed by Matt Wolf, Teenage is a film that encaptures the role of adolescents throughout history. This informative, yet highly stylized movie is one to remember. The film is made up of archived video clips, portraits, and diary entries, with voice acting done by a star studded cast of actors including Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas) and Jenna Malone (Donnie Darko).  Between the collage of memoirs and music, composed by Bradford Cox, this film is a vintage dream. Teenage begins by showing the evolution of teenagers from the early nineteenth century until the end of WWII. Throughout this time, the idea of the "teenager" was only being created. The film reaches beyond the americanized idea of the teenage years and goes on to explore the youth of Europe (primarily England and Germany's nazi youth). The film goes into interesting detail about each group during each time period. Flappers, Boy Scouts, Victory Girls, Swing Kids and Sub Debs all left their interesting mark on the world in their own rebellious ways. The movie shows the spirit of the youth and their desire to stand up for their beliefs. This ethereal film is as motivating as it is informative and beautiful.

In an interview, Director Matt Wolf told me how he found the archived files.
"I worked with a team of professional researchers lead by the intrepid archival researcher Rosemary Rotondi. My researchers sourced footage from over 50 archives around the world, including public collections, private vendors, and individuals," stated Wolf.
Wolf got the idea for the film based on Jon Savage's novel, Teenage. 
"Jon is a cultural historian, but he’s decidedly non-academic. When I read his book I thought there could be 20 films in there, but I was inspired to wrangle all the material into one work. I had the concept to reimagine the history film as a punk collage." said Wolf.

On March 23rd, 2015, Wolf's film collaboration with Lena Dunham telling the story of Hilary Knight, illustrator of the popular 1950's book Eloise, will soon be available on HBO.

"Young people are always reimagining the future, and shaping it on their own terms. Youth culture is as much politics as it is pop." - Matt Wolf

Scope out the trailer below. Teenage can be found on DVD, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix and other applications.