Lights, camera, action! Students at the Upper Grand District School Board are in the process of filming their own movies for the board’s second annual film festival.
The curriculum program teams at the board came together to come up with something to celebrate and combine the arts whether it be visual, music, dance, or drama, to apply it to Kindergarten to Grade 8.
The UGDSB Film Fest bridged the gap to allow students to share their voice through the medium of film.
This festival runs May 12 to 19 virtually across schools in the board.
“We needed to provide students and teachers with a way to support students to make films regardless of what equipment they had, what age they were, how much time they had to devote to this. We knew it had to be accessible and we had to offer a variety of entry points to filmmaking,” said Heather Walker, program lead for Kindergarten to Grade 12 at the UGDSB.
Films are made by students, either individually, in small groups or a whole class. The videos are limited to three minutes, due to the amount of films, over 75, the film fest views.
“We researched a lot of different film festivals and we sort of model after, what would work for us. What we can take away from more commercial film festivals and apply it to the educational setting,” said Walker.
Films are bundled, last year they were put together for the viewing demographic. The film festival has live viewing parties, and are streamed virtually throughout the board so everyone can watch the film at the same time.
Panel discussions are incorporated into the festival so the filmmakers can learn from each other. The panels are moderated by program leads, and questions are asked by students in the board.
Making a film is a process so Walker and her colleagues created a website for teachers and students with resources on storyboarding, filming, editing, and how to use equipment to put films together.
This year the website has incorporated learning about diversity in film through different Canadian film festivals like the Toronto Black Film Festival, imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.
There are suggested themes students can make their films about, like identity, human connection, environment and nature, narrative storytelling, and change making.
Last year, a Grade 3 class worked remotely and put together a film about kindness.
“Their learning was, you can make a film, all in different houses,” said Walker.
“I think when kids are young they think about filmmaking, or making a movie and they might just really focus in on the acting or the filming piece,” said Walker.
Students learn about different roles in the process of filmmaking, some leading to possible career pathways for students in high school.
Viewing the films is the cherry on top of the film fest but Walker had her own favourite part of the process.
“Without question, dialoging with the student filmmakers. And hearing from the student filmmakers themselves about their process,” she said. “Hearing students talk, just beaming when they’re talking about what they created and feeling that sense of pride in sharing their voice in a film.”
