Students in the Upper Grand District School Board’s curriculum program are making movies for the board’s second annual film festival. The board’s curriculum team came together to create a way to celebrate and combine the arts, whether visual, musical, dance, or dramatic. They wanted to use it from Kindergarten to Grade 8.
The Upper Grand District School Board Film Festival took place from May 12 to 16 and encouraged students to express themselves creatively. The festival featured workshops, screenings, and other activities that built bridges between students and their communities.
Heather Walker said, “We wanted to give students and teachers a way to help students make movies no matter what equipment they had, how old they were, or how much time they had. And we knew it had to be easy to use.” We knew it had to be easy to use.” We knew it had to be easy to use.”
Students make movies independently, in small groups, or as a whole class. The film fest watches more than 75 films, each lasting three minutes. “We looked into a lot of different film festivals to see what would work for us and what wouldn’t,” Walker said.
“We can take what we can learn from more commercial festivals and use it in an educational setting.” Last year, the movies were based on who would watch them. There are parties at the film festival. The movies are streamed almost everywhere so everyone can watch them simultaneously.
Panel discussions are part of the festival so filmmakers can learn from each other. The panel discussions are led by people in charge of the program, and students ask questions. Making a film is a process, so Walker and her colleagues made a website for teachers and students to use the information on storyboarding, filming, editing, and equipment.
The website has added several Canadian film festivals to its roster this year. These include the Toronto Black Film Festival and the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival. Students are given ideas for themes for their films–such as identity, human connections, the environment, and nature–and are encouraged to explore narrative storytelling and making changes.
Last year, a third-grade class from Walker’s school worked from home to make a movie about kindness. Students learned that you could make a movie even if they live in different places.
“I think when kids are young, they think about making a movie or making a film, and they might only think about acting or filming,” Walker said. Students learn about the different roles needed to make a movie–such as director, screenwriter, and producer–and these roles can lead to possible careers for high school students.
The best part of a film festival, Walker said, is getting to know both the student filmmakers and their works. “I love hearing from the students about their process and what led them to make the creative choices they did,” she said. “Seeing how proud they are of their work is also very inspiring.”
