We at AmLit are dedicated to supporting the budding talents and creations of intelligent, creative, and gifted young artists. Last month, middle and high school students visited campus to showcase their films and projects at the Discover the World of Communication High School Film Fest. The festival winners addressed serious and modern issues, such as activism, gun violence, and sustainability.
The student films are poignant, inspiring, and artistic. It’s heartening to see AU supporting young filmmakers and artists, and we’re grateful to be able to highlight their talents.
THE WINNERS:
Best Fiction Short: “In the Wings”
A young ballerina with an upcoming performance finds herself stuck between dating a boy in her class and spending time with her best friend. Tensions increase as she has to choose between them both. At her performance, she realizes the choice she must make to make herself happy.
Best Documentary Short: “We Are Now”
Produced by eight high school students, "We Are Now" showcases the wave of youth-led activism sweeping the country and highlights several young activists who are fighting for what they believe in. Young people feel the government is unresponsive to their needs and, because they are not yet voting age, they are organizing, protesting and standing up for their rights. "We Are Now" is a rallying cry to young people everywhere, urging them to be the change they wish to see in the world.
Best Environmental Short: “I Am Forever: Watch Your Waste Project”
What would you say if you find a pile of garbage of plastic bottles in a place that you generally go to eat? Watch the reaction of students during a lunch break of a very smelly art piece and a parade against the use of plastic bottles at the school. Maybe this could help the students and staff of school to re-think of each decision of buying a new water plastic bottle as it takes at least 450 years to decompose, and their mind patter and further actions. A film made by the Visual Art High Schooler students, from Ruamrudee International School in Bangkok, in order to create awareness about plastic consumption.
This film is part of the Film Workshop by the Brazilian artists Lara Jacoski and Patrick Belem, which the students are taught how to make a film from the subject plastic. After classes of sustainability of the city the students live in and classes on how to make a film from beginning to end, the students make their own video at their school creating awareness in a substantial scale. This project has an ideal to teach art and sustainability altogether by reaching some aspects of rubbish, decomposition and recycling, being able to think about our environment and how to keep it as clean as possible. Hopping also to plant a seed with our beliefs of having a better world to live in and being able to help the next generation.
Best Social Justice Short: “Too Young”
A short documentary shedding light on the prevalence of gun violence in schools across America.
Best Overall Film: “Sketchy” (an animated short film)
An introverted schoolboy finds himself the king of his own imaginary world.
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