Film
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
A quiet, aching drama about a teenage girl sent to a Christian conversion therapy camp after she's caught with another girl. Chloë Grace Moretz plays Cameron with a wary, watchful stillness — this isn't a film that shouts about injustice, it just shows you the slow, absurd cruelty of institutions trying to fix what isn't broken. Funny in places, devastating in others.
If you liked this
Boy Erased2018
The same subject from the other side of the aisle — a boy instead of a girl, a memoir instead of a novel, released the same year. Lucas Hedges is quietly wrecking as the son trying to please a father who can't accept him.
But Glossier and more prestige-drama than Cameron Post; it wants to move you in a more conventional way.

But I'm a Cheerleader2000
The pink-and-blue satirical grandparent of this whole subgenre. Same conversion camp premise played as candy-colored camp comedy, with RuPaul as an ex-gay counselor — it's angrier than it looks.
But The tone is broad and campy where Cameron Post is restrained; some will find the satire too cartoonish for the subject.

Pariah2011
A Brooklyn teenager quietly working out who she is while her family insists on who she should be. Adepero Oduye is extraordinary, and the film has the same tender patience with its characters.
But More intimate and slower-paced — a family chamber piece rather than an ensemble institution story.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Children's Hour1961
Same engine — an institution punishing a rumored desire — three decades earlier, before the word could even be spoken aloud onscreen.
Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine as two schoolteachers destroyed by a rumor of lesbianism — made under the Hays Code, so it can barely say the word, yet the machinery of shame and institutional cruelty is identical to Cameron Post's, just in starched black and white.
But Stagey and dated in its pacing, and the ending reflects the era's grim moral limits rather than any hope of survival.

More like this (8)
Moonlight2016
A boy growing into himself across three chapters of his life, shaped by silence, shame, and the people who almost love him right. Visually gorgeous, emotionally exact.
But Structurally fragmented and impressionistic — less plot-driven than Cameron Post, more mood and memory.

Love, Simon2018
The sunny mainstream counterpart — no camp, no conversion, just a nice suburban kid working up the courage to come out. A palate cleanser if Cameron Post left you needing one.
But Conflict-free by comparison; some will find it too safe and sanded-down after Cameron Post's teeth.

Yes, God, Yes2020no page yet
Natalia Dyer as a Catholic school girl discovering her own desire and drowning in guilt about it — shorter, funnier, and just as sharp about religious shame's absurd machinery.
But Lighter stakes and a comedic register; it's a skit compared to Cameron Post's slow burn.
Disobedience2018
An adult version of the same collision — desire versus a tightly closed religious community, this time Orthodox Jewish London. Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams are magnetic together.
But Slower and more adult in its concerns; no ensemble of fellow teens, no camp setting, less immediate.

The Way He Looks2014no page yet
A sweeter, sunnier Brazilian coming-of-age film about a blind teenage boy falling for his new best friend. Gentle where Cameron Post is angry, but it shares her hunger for tenderness.
But Almost no institutional conflict — this is first love, not survival, and much lower stakes throughout.
Edge of Seventeen1999no page yet
A '90s period piece about a gay teenager finding his footing in a small Ohio town — same decade, same ache of being young and different somewhere unwelcoming.
But Rougher and more dated in its filmmaking; a modest indie rather than a polished production.
This Is What Love in Action Looks Like2011no page yet
Strips away the fiction — same camps, same scripts, same survivors, filmed as they actually happened.
A documentary about a real Tennessee conversion therapy program and the teenagers who organized against it. It's the nonfiction mirror of everything Cameron Post dramatizes, right down to the counselors' language.
But Rough, low-budget documentary filmmaking with none of the visual polish or narrative shaping of a scripted film.
Saved!2004
Same target — weaponized Christian institutions policing teenage bodies and desire — but performed as loud comedy instead of quiet tragedy.
A teen comedy set at a Christian high school where a pregnant girl and a wheelchair-bound skeptic become unlikely allies against the school's zealotry. It's Cameron Post's institutional satire cranked up to broad, gleeful trash.
But Aggressively mainstream and jokey — a Mandy Moore vehicle, not a serious drama, and it plays its ideas for laughs rather than ache.

People
Cast
Chloë Grace MoretzCameron
Sasha LaneJane
Forrest GoodluckAdam
John Gallagher Jr.Reverend Rick
Jennifer EhleDr. Lydia Marsh
Marin IrelandBethany
Owen CampbellMark
Kerry ButlerRuth
Quinn ShephardColey
Emily SkeggsErin
Melanie EhrlichHelen
Isaac Jin SolsteinSteve
Directing
- Desiree AkhavanDirector
- Jake MartinFirst Assistant Director
- Erika Sanz CorbachoScript Supervisor
- Natasha RiveraSecond Assistant Director
- Maggie KaszubaSecond Second Assistant Director
Writing
- Emily M. DanforthNovel
- Cecilia FrugiueleScreenplay
- Desiree AkhavanScreenplay
Production
- Eston Clare Jr.Additional Production Assistant
- Matthew HadleyAdditional Production Assistant
- Paula LlanosAdditional Production Assistant
- Talia KaganAdditional Production Assistant
- Nick CovellAssistant Location Manager
- Rachel ChangchienAssociate Producer
- Jessica DanielsCasting
- Daniel FrankelCasting Assistant
- Rob CristianoCo-Producer
- Desiree AkhavanExecutive Producer
- Olivier KaempferExecutive Producer
- James BarberKey Production Assistant
- Justin StowellLocation Manager
- Alex TurtletaubProducer
- Cecilia FrugiueleProducer
- Jonathan MontepareProducer
- Michael B. ClarkProducer
- Katie CordealProduction Accountant
- Tatiana BearsProduction Coordinator
- Adam KershPublicist