''The Graduates'' is a 2023 American

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film written, directed, and edited by Hannah Peterson, in her directorial debut. It stars Mina Sundwall, Alex R. Hibbert, Yasmeen Fletcher, Ewan Manley,

John Cho John Cho (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the '' Harold & Kumar'' films, and Hikaru Sulu in the ''Star Trek'' rebooted film series as well as '' Better Luck Tomorrow'', '' Columbus'', a ...

, Maria Dizzia, and Kelly O'Sullivan.

Chloé Zhao Chloé Zhao (born Zhao Ting; 31 March 1982) is a Chinese-born filmmaker. She is known primarily for her work on independent films. Zhao is the second of three women to win the Academy Award for Best Director for her film Nomadland. '' Songs ...

serves as an executive producer. It had its world premiere at the

Tribeca Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on June 10, 2023, and was released on November 1, 2024, by the Future of Film Is Female.

Premise

A young woman prepares to graduate high school following the death of her boyfriend to gun violence, a year prior.

Cast

* Mina Sundwall as Genevieve * Alex R. Hibbert as Ben * Yasmeen Fletcher as Romie * Ewan Manley as Becker *

as John * Maria Dizzia as Maggie * Kelly O'Sullivan as Vicki * Augustina Tang as Jazell

Production

Hannah Peterson was interested in telling a coming-of-age story set in the public school system, when Peterson began speaking to current and former high school students, the same anxiety of safety in schools kept popping up. Peterson chose to keep gun violence off-screen in order to situate the plot on grief. The script was initially written in chapters, but during post-production, the film was re-ordered.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on June 10, 2023. It went on to screen at the

Deauville American Film Festival The Deauville American Film Festival () is a yearly film festival devoted to Cinema of the United States, American cinema, which has taken place since 1975 in Deauville, France. It was established by Lionel Chouchan, André Halimi, and then ...

on September 5, 2023. In September 2024, The Future of Film Is Female acquired distribution rights to the film, which was released on November 1, 2024. Tribeca Films acquired digital distribution rights to the film, with a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

release on February 4, 2025.

Reception

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graduates 2023 Film 2023 directorial debut films Films shot in Utah Films about education 2023 films American drama films