The HBO Original documentary THOUGHTS & PRAYERS, directed by Zackary Canepari and Jessica Dimmock, premiered on Tuesday, November 18th, and is now available to stream on HBO Max. This arresting yet sobering feature captures the current, unsettling landscape of safety rituals in schools and communities across America, where classrooms double as tactical training grounds, bullet proof backpacks become armor, and conferences showcase the latest survival gadgets. Equal parts absurd and unsettlingly real, the film traces the $3 billion active shooter preparedness industry and its profound effect on students and educators, raising important questions about the unintended consequences of these intense preparations.
THOUGHTS & PRAYERS shows caregivers blocking doors with cribs, educators practicing shooting at armed intruders in elaborate mock battles and VR simulations, and children learning how to fight back or hide behind bullet proof equipment disguised as ordinary classroom furniture. Directors Zackary Canepari and Jessica Dimmock, whose own daughter is navigating this environment, crafted the film to vividly capture this strange world, with Dimmock noting the film is built around the statistic that guns are the number one killer of children in the United States. Candid interviews with teachers, administrators, students, and parents from districts in Utah, Oregon, and New York speak to this new “normal” and how communities are taking the situation into their own hands in the absence of meaningful gun reform.