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15 DAYS: The Real Story of America’s Pandemic School Closures. directed by Natalya Murakhver and produced with Hawk Jensen and Eli Steele, is a documentary revealing why America's school closures lasted longer than almost any other nation. Murakhver, an NYC "Open Schools" mom who filed a lawsuit against Mayor Bill de Blasio to reopen schools during the pandemic, connected with parents and medical experts across the nation engaged in similar fights in their cities and towns.

Framed as a forensic analysis of what happened to children during school closures, it blends Murakhver's perspective as a Soviet immigrant with voices of children and families nationwide, exposing devastating learning loss, mental health crises, and inequality. The film challenges the narrative that "we did the best we could with the info we had" by revealing that key science was available and ignored, and examining how unions and activists influenced the crisis.

Featuring President Trump's former COVID advisor Stanford’s Dr. Scott Atlas, Stanford epidemiologist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, former NPR reporter Anya Kamenetz, author Martin Gurri, tech addiction expert Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, USC's Dr. Morgan Polikoff, legendary NYC basketball coach Ron Naclerio, and Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice, the film examines how $189.5 billion in federal ESSER funds for schools was tied to extended closures, leading to devastating social and academic outcomes for children.

15 DAYS preserves the voices of those who fought to reopen schools and serves as a historical record to protect future generations.

The film is dedicated to Noah Sylvester, who, as a high schooler, suffered immensely during the school closures and took his own life in May 2025 at the age of 21.

about the film

Filmmaking team

Director Natalya Murakhver

Producers Natalya Murakhver and Hawk Jensen

Executive Producers Dana Hensley, Scott Davison and Ram Duriseti

Co-Executive Producers Eli Steele and Emily Burns

Co-Producers Stephanie Edmonds and Megan Swados

Cinematography and editing by Stephanie Edmonds

Assistant Editing by Antonio Flores

Music by Scott McRae

Sound Design Dedric Terry

  • Headshot of Director Natalya Murakher

    Natalya Murakhver

    Producer / Director

  • Headshot of Producer Stephanie Edmonds

    Stephanie Edmonds

    Cinematographer / Editor

  • Headshot Photo of Producer Hawk Jensen

    Hawk Jensen

    Producer

In ColLaboration With

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Featured voices

  • Headshot Photograph of Scott Atlas, MD

    Scott Atlas, MD

    Senior Fellow at Stanford University

  • Headshot photograph of Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD

    Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD

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

  • Headshot Photograph of Emily Burns

    Emily Burns

    Boston, MA and Austin, TX

  • Headshot Photograph of Hudson Donovan

    Hudson Donovan

    Harlem, NY

  • Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH in an office being interviewed with accreditation certificates on the wall

    Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH

    Professor of Medicine, UCSF

  • Martin Gurri standing and speaking

    Martin Gurri

    Former CIA Analyst, author of ‘The Revolt of the Public’

  • Alex Gutentag in an office setting being interviewed

    Alex Gutentag

    Former Oakland Teacher

  • Dana Hensley being interviewed

    Dana Hensley

    Buffalo, NY

  • Photograph of The Hicks Family on a sofa

    Hicks Family

    Harlem, NY

  • Tracy Høeg, MD, PhD in a conference room

    Tracy Høeg, MD, PhD

    Northern California

  • Tiffany Justice sitting on a sofa

    Tiffany Justice

    Indian River County, FL

  • The Kammer Brothers Sitting on a Sofa

    Kammer Brothers

    Baltimore, MD

  • Nicholas Kardaras, PhD, sitting behind a desk being interviewed

    Nicholas Kardaras, PhD

    Psychologist, Screen Addiction Specialist

  • Headshot Photo of Anya Kamenetz

    Anya Kamenetz

    Former NPR Education Reporter

  • Headshot Photo of Maud Maron

    Maud Maron

    New York, NY

  • Paul Martino sitting in a red wingback chair

    Paul Martino

    Bucks County, PA

  • Coach Ron Naclerio standing on a baseball court

    Coach Ron Naclerio

    Cardozo High School, Queens, NY

  • Headshot Photograph of The Pinckney Family

    Pinckney Family

    Queens, NY

  • Photo of Morgan Polikoff, PhD being interviewed

    Morgan Polikoff, PhD

    Professor of Education, USC

  • Jenin Younes in an office being interviewed

    Jenin Younes

    Constitutional Lawyer

  • "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 Høeg

  • “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

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