HIGH SCORE
Synopsis
After a young man is fired from his job as a result of his casually offensive behavior, he finds the perfect people to blame: minorities. Newly inspired by the white supremacist ideology of the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, we watch as he sinks into the darkest pits of the internet and takes the ideas he finds there as his own…
Logline: As his personal life unravels, a burgeoning white supremacist descends into an abyss of online radicalization and extremist conspiracy theories.
Credits
Ethan Itzkow “The Guy”
Jillian Ferry “Elizabeth Bloom”
Naom Shapiro “Jeremiah”
Briza Covarrubias “Paulina”
Director Statement
In April 2019, while we were in Los Angeles preparing to screen our film “CASHED,” the Poway synagogue shooting occurred not far away. It left us shaken and thinking of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting exactly six months before and of countless others in recent years.
The unlawful detainment of Central American people attempting to immigrate to the U.S. also weighed on us profoundly. We couldn’t shake the feeling that the inhumane conditions at our southern border’s detention centers seemed connected to the growing wave of white supremacist violence. It lit a fire inside us, an aching need to do more to better our world (or, like we say in the Jewish tradition, to contribute to the effort of Tikkun Olam).
“High Score” was born of our need to drag the violent hatred fermenting in the shadows of our media into the light, to expose the interconnectedness of these conspiracy theories and the dangers they pose to human life, and to reveal the almost supernatural power of the internet to amplify extremist ideologies and radicalize people toward violent actions. We hope you’ll join our fight to end white supremacy and racial violence.
– Serena Ryen & Ethan Itzkow
Directors, “High Score”
Director Biography
Serena Ryen and Ethan Itzkow collaborated previously on “CASHED,” which is streaming now on Amazon Prime, screened at over a dozen festivals around the United States, and won awards like the Audience Choice Award with HollyShorts Monthly Screenings at the historic TCL Chinese Theater; Best Dramatic Short, Best Actress, and Best Cinematography at CICHFF; as well as a nomination for Best Comedy Short with the Queens World Film Festival.
Ryen and Itzkow are also both regularly working actors. Itzkow won Best Actor at CFF for his work in “High Score” and can be seen in TV shows like the hit Netflix series “YOU” starring Penn Badgley. Ryen has acted opposite stars like Ron Rifkin, toured the world in multiple stage productions, and performed on stages like the Tony Award-winning Cincinnati Playhouse and Carnegie Hall.
They are deeply grateful to the incredible team of artists and aggressive problem-solvers who have made this film possible.
