Presentation
2018 · 12m · United States
Directed by Danielle Kampf
Genres: coming-of-age, drama
Tones: contemplative, tender
Holly, a high school girl riddled with anxiety, has to give a class presentation — and finds the strength to face her fears and the obnoxious adults around her.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A high schooler conquers anxiety through public speaking—it's the kind of earnest coming-of-age premise that usually makes me want to leave the theater, and Kampf doesn't really subvert it enough to justify my attention.
Kampf demonstrates clear formal control in this tender study of adolescent vulnerability, positioning her work within a lineage of intimate character dramas that privilege emotional honesty over plot mechanics.
The film's power lives in how Kampf uses silence and spatial blocking—the specific geometry of Holly's isolation in that classroom, the quiet before she speaks—to make a modest budget feel like emotional restraint rather than limitation.
Reviews
What really distinguishes Presentation from an after-school special or PSA, about how you just have to believe in yourself, are the naturalistic performances, especially from lead actress Emily Rey as Holly. The film succeeds in inspiring this conversation, without being too on-the-nose.