Sixteen: Schooling Jewel

Executive Produced by Rory Kennedy and Liz Garbus
Produced and Directed by Nick Doob and Molly O'Brien

Schooling Jewel focuses on Jewel Offor, a bright and outspoken 17 year old struggling for popularity, success and responsibility. We meet her during her quest to become the first African American homecoming queen at East Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When Jewel suspects that the all white school administration has rigged the election, she demands justice-and receives only murky answers to her questions about institutionalized racism. Just as that controversy dies down, she gets involved in another, more adult, conflict-pitting her budding womanhood against her father's wishes. "I want my father to be proud of me. He's from Nigeria. And in Nigeria girls do not disobey their fathers." But the attentions of a rich 46-year-old man named Glen strain Jewel's resolve and her loyalty to her father. The week before graduation Jewel defies her father and flies to New York City for a weekend with Glen. She comes home to a room that's been trashed and a father who wants to disown her. In one tumultuous year, from racism to sex and family loyalties, Jewel navigates the turbulent trip from girlhood to womanhood.