The new film about high school bullying, titled Contest, had its world premiere yesterday at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and now the rest of the country has a chance to check it out tonight when it has its TV premiere on the Cartoon Network as part of the network's Stop Bullying: Speak Up initiative.
Written and directed by Anthony Joseph Giunta, Contest is set in a small town high school where an athlete and bully, played by Duty, pretends to befriend one of his victims, played by Flaherty, in order to avoid being expelled and to protect a swimming scholarship. The film includes Broadway star Kyle Dean Massey along with teen stars Kat McNamara (Girl vs. Monster) and Kenton Duty (Shake It Up) and Daniel Flaherty (The Americans) and The Good Wife's Mary Beth Piel.
As Stuart Snyder, president and COO of Cartoon Network, said: "Contest is our latest effort to help inspire more open discussion between kids, parents and educators about the issue of bullying. Along with our other on-going efforts and partnerships, this movie is a new, entertaining approach for us to continue spreading the message that bullying can be addressed effectively when someone has the courage to speak up."
Watch the trailer below:
