Synopsis
 Megan, 11, and Ashley, 13, at home in Calabasas, CA. Megan owns over 30 pairs of jeans, celebrates her birthday with facials and massages, and can’t stand it when someone else at school has the same outfit as her. An original short film by award-winning filmmaker and photographer Lauren Greenfield, kids+money is a conversation with young people from diverse Los Angeles communities about the role of money in their lives. From rich to poor, Pacific Palisades to East L.A., kids address how they are shaped by a culture of consumerism.
 
 Program Note
 Lauren Greenfield, a photographer famous for her works telling the stories of teenagers, follows teenagers in LA with a video camera. Teenagers talk frankly about money on camera. “It doesn’t matter if you are black or white. Money is all that matters.” As Matthew says, money and ‘style’ that money can buy are the most important elements that construct teenagers’ identities. The film offers food for thought regarding money and how it has become a most powerful and influential element in teenagers’ lives: From Hollywood culture that promotes spending, to a social atmosphere in which money is valued above all and untouchable power is granted to it. (Jay SOHN)