The Education of Shelby Knox

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The Education of Shelby Knox

Directed by	Marion Lipschutz Rose Rosenblatt
Produced by	Marion Lipschutz Rose Rosenblatt
Starring	Shelby Knox
Music by	Rick Baitz
Cinematography	Gary Griffin
Distributed by	Incite Pictures
Release date(s)	July 1, 2006
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Education of Shelby Knox is 2005 documentary film that tells the coming of age story about Shelby Knox, a teenage girl who joins a campaign for comprehensive sex education in the high schools of Lubbock, Texas. It was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and aired on PBS’s Point Of View series in 2005. It was directed and produced by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt.

1 Overview
2 Background
3 Awards
4 Pop references
5 External links

[edit] Overview

Lubbock has some of the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the nation. The town's solution? A strict abstinence-only education curriculum in the public schools and a fire-and-brimstone preacher who urges kids to pledge abstinence-until-marriage.

Shelby Knox is a politically conservative, deeply religious, Southern Baptist teenager who joins the Lubbock Youth Commission, a group of high school students representing a youth voice in city government. When the teens confront Lubbock's sexual health crisis and campaign for comprehensive sex education, Shelby throws herself into the fight with missionary fervor, struggling to reconcile her newfound political beliefs with her conservative religious views. When the campaign broadens to include a fight for a gay-straight alliance, Shelby must confront her family and pastor in this coming-of-age story.

[edit] Background

Federally funded, abstinence-only sex education is sparking an intense national debate. Sex may be everywhere - in music, television, fashion and movies - one argument goes, but schools need to give teenagers the tools to resist peer pressure and say "no." Won't teaching about sex only encourage teens to try it? Opponents say that withholding information about condom use and birth control will only lead to unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Into the culture wars steps teenager Shelby Knox of Lubbock, Texas. Although her county's high schools teach abstinence as the only safe sex, Lubbock has some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in the nation. Shelby, a devout Christian who has pledged abstinence until marriage herself, becomes an unlikely advocate for comprehensive sex education, profoundly changing her political and spiritual views along the way. When Shelby's interest in politics leads her to get involved in a campaign for comprehensive sex education in her town's public schools, and then to a fight for a gay-straight alliance, Shelby must make a choice: Stand by and let others be hurt, or go against her parents, her pastor, and her peers to do what she knows is right.

The film is an exceptionally timely and intimate look at the cultural wars from the perspective of a young woman’s life. The support her conservative family provides is an example of how a healthy democracy could look given the time and will to listen. It is the hope of the filmmakers that screenings will foster that dialogue and build bridges.

[edit] Awards

The Education of Shelby Knox has received a number of awards:

2005 Sundance Film Festival (Excellence in Cinematography, Documentary Category)
2005 SXSW Film Festival (Audience Award)
2005 Sonoma Valley Film Festival (Jury Prize)
2005 Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (Jury Prize, Best Documentary)
2005 Full Frame Documentary Festival (Emerging Pictures Audience Award)
Council on Foundations (2005 Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film & Digital Media)
2005 Fresno Reel Pride Film Festival (Audience Award, Best Feature)
2006 The Index on Censorship's Freedom of Expression Film Award (Nominee)

[edit] Pop references

The Dixie Chicks' 2006 album Taking the Long Way features a track titled "Lubbock or Leave It," which is based on The Education of Shelby Knox. When the song came out, the group's singer Emily Robison told the press, "We'd seen a documentary called 'The Education of Shelby Knox,' which was about a girl ... trying to get Lubbock to teach sex education in the schools. Lubbock has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and STDs in the U.S., so it really showed what happens when you keep that information away from people." Natalie Maines, another member of the group, subsequently spoke about watching the film during a 2006 episode of VHI Storytellers.