The trailer for the upcoming documentary Bully has arrived courtesy of The Huffington Post and The Weinstein Co. has also revealed they will be appealing the film’s R-rating with the MPAA.
Bully comes from director Lee Hirsch and takes a look at the bullying crisis affecting America, and in a just issued press release the Weinstein Co. notes that the R-rating “restricts children under 17 from seeing the film unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. As a result, Bully could not be screened in U.S. middle and high schools, where it might otherwise reach a mass national audience of students and be used as a tool to stop an epidemic of physical, psychological and emotional violence.”
Hirsch was quoted in the release saying, “I made Bully for kids to see – the bullies as well as the bullied. We have to change hearts and minds in order to stop this epidemic, which has scarred countless lives and driven many children to suicide. To capture the stark reality of bullying, we had to capture the way kids act and speak in their everyday lives – and the fact is that kids use profanity. It is heartbreaking that the MPAA, in adhering to a strict limit on certain words, would end up keeping this film from those who need to see it most. No one could make this case more powerfully than Alex Libby, and I am so proud and honored that he is stepping forward to make a personal appeal.”
The trailer can be viewed directly below. The film will hit theaters on March 30.
