Alec Fischer has always been a man on a mission. As a youngster, Fischer recalls an art class that inspired him so heavily that “afterwards, I thought I was a famous artist and painted every single day,” he says. That determination served him well as he undertook his most ambitious project to date: creating a documentary exploring the effects of bullying on high school students.
Drawing from his own experiences being bullied, Fischer sought to give a voice to others who were bullied and raise awareness about the issue. “I really felt this would be a great way to reach the kids out there who don’t have someone to talk to,” he explains.
Before graduating from Edina High School last spring, Fischer buckled down during the two weeks of May term, and dozens of interviews, 35 hours of footage and several 12-hour editing days later, Minnesota Nice was ready for viewing.
Fischer’s first showing was to an audience of 1,200 Edina students. In June, the Edina Theater agreed to show the film at free admission. Since then, Fischer has been contacted by dozens of schools and nonprofits across Minnesota to show the film, and has even attracted the interest of sponsors looking to take the film nationwide. “That would be the ultimate dream, to have it go nationally across schools across the country,” he says.
This fall, Fischer will begin pursuing his filmmaking dreams and psychology as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he hopes to continue making movies with an impact. “That’s what art is,” he says. “Having your work seen by people you don’t even know and have it move them.”
