Youth activists and grieving families confront the devastating toll of online perfection, and addiction, exposing a global crisis igniting a movement demanding accountability from a behemoth adversary.
This intimate and haunting documentary strips away the illusion of perfection to reveal the interior lives of a generation navigating an increasingly complex and dangerous digital world. Told through the voices of three powerful youth activists, the film offers a deeply personal and unflinching portrait of life shaped by relentless comparison, addiction, and the impossible pursuit of perfection. Alongside these young women, two mothers step forward, carrying an unimaginable loss.
Interwoven through these intimate narratives is a rising movement. What begins as individual stories of survival evolves into collective action. The film builds toward a powerful, youth-led protest on the steps of Meta’s headquarters standing in defiance against the behemoth world of Big Tech.
Beautiful is a film about identity in a world where the line between real and illusion has almost disappeared. What emerges is a portrait of resistance. A generation refusing silence. A movement demanding change.
Writer/Director
PHYLLIS ELLIS
Producers
HOWARD FRAIBERG, PHYLLIS ELLIS
Executive Producer
TRISH DOLMAN
Director of Photography
IRIS NG
Editor
EUGENE WEIS
FEATURING
ARIELLE GEISMAR is an organizer, advocate, creator, and strategist in human technology interaction. She has experience passing bills for young people on a state and federal level, advising nascent and foremost technology companies in ethics. She has led essential advocacy campaigns around responsible technology and mental health. She is currently working as a technology ethicist.
KATHERINE TOWNSEND, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, lost her 16-year-old daughter, Saniah, after she died by suicide following an addiction to social media, which Townsend said deteriorated her self-worth and worsened her anxiety and depression.
ALANA LINTAO is a digital content creator and commentator known for her thoughtful critiques of modern beauty culture and the pressures created by social media. Through her videos and online platforms, she speaks candidly about unrealistic beauty standards, the influence of filters and editing tools, and the ways algorithms shape how we see ourselves.
LORI SCHOTT from Merino, in northeast Colorado, her daughter Annalee, who attended Merino High School, died in 2020, after struggling with social-media-fueled self-doubt, anxiety and depression, something her parents truly understood after gaining access to her phone.
LENNON TORRES & AVA SMITHING together are founding partners of The Attention Studio, where they work to help people take back their time, attention, and sense of self from technology designed to keep them hooked, and hold tech companies accountable for the harm they cause around the globe.
FRANCES HAUGEN is a technology expert and whistleblower who became widely known for exposing internal research from Meta Platforms that revealed how the company’s social media products could harm users.