F-ckups Anonymous
2025 · 15m · USA
Directed by Katrina Whalen
Genres: biography, dark comedy, drama
Tones: dark, darkly comic, tense
A rebellious teenager arrives at a therapeutic boarding school for troubled teens, where witnessing the brutal treatment of a fellow classmate on his first day makes the consequences of his own actions frighteningly clear. Based on writer Joe Tierney's own experiences inside a controversial 'troubled teen industry' program.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Everyone expects a boarding school trauma narrative to either confess or condemn—Whalen refuses both, instead weaponizing dark comedy against the machinery itself, which is precisely the move most scouts would chicken out on.
The film's formal discipline—its refusal to sentimentalize despite urgent material, the controlled escalation of dread across fifteen minutes—positions it squarely in the lineage of rigorous indie drama that treats real suffering with structural rather than emotional intelligence.
Shooting this in two days could've been a liability; instead, Whalen's economy forces every scene to do double work, and that constraint is what gives the performances their unsettling naturalism—the budget limitation becomes the film's aesthetic signature.
Reviews
Immediately pulls you in, building tension with care, while the teen leads deliver raw, compelling performances. An honest, dynamic, and ultimately surprising look at its central character.
A taut and emotional story of young anguish — a project that uses humor to navigate trauma and gives a voice to the voiceless.
Festivals
- SXSW Film & TV Festival 2025, Grand Jury Award