‘Homeroom’ Is A Powerful Verité Look At Policing In Schools [Sundance Review]
Rounding out his trilogy of Oakland based verité documentaries, which includes 2012’s “The Waiting Room” and 2017’s “The Force,” Peter Nicks’ newest, “Homeroom,” is a poignant look at the 2019-20 school year in Oakland, CA, in which the compounding issues around defunding the police and COVID-19 force the school district to reevaluate their priorities. Centralizing Denilson Garibo, a high school senior, who serves as one of the student directors on the Board of Education, for the Oakland Unified School District and representative, as he often likes to remind other board members, for the 36,000 students within the district, Nicks tracks Garibo’s pursuit to eliminate police presence within the school system.