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15 Days, directed by Natalya Murakhver and produced by Eli Steele, is the first documentary to reveal why America’s school closures lasted longer than almost any other nation. Murakhver, an NYC “Open Schools” mom, led the only lawsuit against Mayor Bill de Blasio to reopen schools during the pandemic, and along the way connected with parents across the nation who were engaged in a similar fight in their cities and towns.

Framed as a forensic analysis of a crime against children by teachers’ unions, it blends Murakhver’s Soviet immigrant perspective with voices of children and families nationwide, exposing devastating learning loss, mental health crises, and inequality. The film dispels the idea that “we did the best we could with the info we had” by revealing that key science was ignored and highlighting how unions, together with left-leaning activists such as Jane Fonda, influenced the crisis to advance political goals.

Spotlighting Trump’s former COVID advisor Dr. Scott Atlas, current NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, former NPR reporter Anya Kamenetz, author Martin Gurri, tech addiction expert Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, Dr. Morgan Polikoff (Associate Professor at USC Rossier School of Education), and Coach Ron Naclerio, NYC’s winningest high school basketball coach at Cardozo High School, it shows how $189.5 billion in federal ESSER funds for schools was shaped by union influence, delaying reopening, and leading to devastating social and academic outcomes for our children. 15 Days demands accountability to protect future generations.

about the film

Film making team

Directed by Natalya Murakhver

Produced by Natalya Murakhver and Eli Steele

Co-Produced by Hawk Jensen and Stephanie Edmonds

Cinematography by Stephanie Edmonds and Eli Steele

Edited by Stephanie Edmonds and Hawk Jensen

Assistant Editing by Antonio Flores

Music by [instert name here]

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Featured voices

  • Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD

    NIH Director (formerly professor or medicine and economics at Stanford University)

  • Scott Atlas, MD

    Hoover Institute

  • The Pinckneys

    Queens, NY

  • Hudson Donovan

    Harlem, NY

  • Natalya Murakhver

    New York, NY

  • Emily Burns

    Open Schools Mom, Boston, MA

  • Hicks Family

    Harlem, NY

  • Kammer Brothers

    Baltimore, MD

  • Coach Ron Naclerio

    Cardozo High School, Queens, NY

  • Tiffany Justice

    Indian River County, FL

  • Anya Kamenetz

    Former NPR Author

  • Maud Maron

    New York, NY

  • Morgan Polikoff, PhD

    Professor of Education, USC

  • Dana Hensley

    Buffalo, NY

  • Nicholas Kardaras, PhD, LCSW-R

    Psychologist, Screen Addiction Specialist

  • Alex Gutentag

    Former Oakland Teacher

  • Jenin Younes

    Constitutional Lawyer

  • Martin Gurri

    Form CIA Analyst

  • Stephanie Edmonds

    Former NYC Teacher

  • Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH

    Professory of Medicine, UCSF

  • Paul Martino

    Bucks County, PA

  • Tracy Hoeg, MD, PhD

    Northern California

  • "One day, historians will look back on the pandemic and find what we did to kids in the name of health was harmful, unethical, and as Scandinavia showed us, unnecessary."

    Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg

  • “I was learning Spanish so well in school, but then, bam, the pandemic suddenly came out and then school ended. And then I started forgetting a bunch of things that I learned school. So it was really hard to remember everything

    Hudson Donovan, age 6

  • “It was frustrating to see parents speaking out, being ignored, and then being vilified for being upset about being silenced.”

    Tiffany Justice

  • “COVID shut down my experience of basketball,” he said. “I missed out on a lot of opportunities… The last two years I could have been training with a professional trainer or I could have been on a regular team…”

    Robert Livingston, age 15

  • “Almost all the U.S. governors closed their schools. This was a tragic, heinous abuse of public policy…probably the most unethical break of social contract with our children, really in any documented history of Western civilization.”

    Dr. Scott Atlas

  • "I remember when the pandemic rules of closing everything for 15 days was put in, and then you blink, and it was 25 months later and counting."

    Coach Ron Naclerio

  • "It was disheartening to see the devotion of so many of my neighbors, my colleagues and California state officials to these policies that have not stopped California from facing very high rates of Covid infection, very high rates of death from Covid in older populations, and also extended time for children away from schools with basically nothing of value to show for it."

    Dr. Jay Bhattacharya

The true impacts of school closures remain to be seen.

Source: CDC.gov

Source: COVID-19, School Closures, and Student Learning Outcomes by Maciej Jakubowski, Tomasz Gajderowicz, and Harry Patrinos.

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