WELCOME TO COMMIE HIGH explores an experiment in public education: Community High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

​The film begins by documenting the school’s humanistic, anti-establishment origins in the early 1970s. By the ’90s, enrollment demands for this alternative, small school led to a wild craze of long lines, camp outs and convoluted lottery systems for students hoping to attend. Today, Community High stands as one of the last public schools from America’s “free school” movement.

​Filmed over the course of a full school year, we see how the “Commie High” model has evolved to reflect the world around it and shows us what’s possible within public education when “no” is not the standard answer.

“This is terrific! I loved – loved every second of it”. — Ken Burns

“A bolt of lightning, jolting us out of our cynicism and complacency.” — Jonathan Zimmerman, professor and author

WELCOME TO COMMIE HIGH is directed by Donald Harrison and was an official selection at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

See WELCOME TO COMMIE HIGH on Saturday, March 23rd, at 7:00 pm at the Riviera Cinema. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased HERE.