This year the Maryland Film Festival celebrates its first Student Film Day on Thursday, November 6 as part of the 26th annual MdFF. The morning Middle School Program will bring together over 400 middle school students from around the Baltimore Public School district. From noon-4pm we celebrate our first Student Film Summit.
The evening features two extraordinary programs of student-made films, curated by our first Student Film Programming Interns and guided by MdFF Student Films Coordinator, Zoey Howell-Brown. Pondering the student film distinction, Howell-Brown shared, “Sometimes I wonder why certain viewers will watch a film, read the details, notice it’s a student submission and say ‘This was great for a student film!’. There’s never a moment where I am not vexed by it. What is the expectation that one has between ‘student’ and other films, besides enrollment status?”
The Summit and the MdFF Student Shorts Programs align with two of the four pillars of SNF Parkway programming— Education and Filmmaker Services. The programs are intended to provide high school and college filmmakers an opportunity to meet one another, grow in their field of work, network with industry leaders, and watch films for students, curated by students.
In the Student Shorts for Adults program, viewers’ journeys through the program will take them through the cultural past of one family to understand the present and watch another break generational curses for contentment in the future. Selections such as If Birds Believe In God, Hasta La Raíz and Trife make a strong impression. From high school to MFA projects, prepare to embark on a remarkable journey that reveals the power of human strength, agility, and the impact of the mind versus life’s uncontrollable misfortune – or just poor public planning. From the Mexican documentary Bajo el Sol to Baltimore School for the Arts student made Her Self Made Utopia, and a local documentary fresh from Johns Hopkins University, If You Can Stand, the program represents the range and high quality of work coming from student filmmakers, defining the cinema landscape of tomorrow.
Motion picture art cannot progress without the critical consciousness of the viewer, the enthusiast, and the artist embodying their perception of life on screen. Youth and college viewers are an integral part of this progress, as their perception of life becomes the prophetic analysis of society that should be digested with caution and taken seriously. This is why media literacy is paramount to MdFF’s student programming endeavors. By proxy of influence, this program has the potential to create a holistic educational experience and inspire young filmmakers and industry-related artists to become innovators in their fields.
With the help of Baltimore City Public Schools and the Fund for Educational Excellence, our pilot program had the honor to welcome middle and high school students to adjudicate the selections in the student film programs. We would like to thank our interns from Baltimore City College, Baltimore Design School, Middle River Middle School, MERVO and City Neighbors Hamilton for their gentle honesty and brilliant insight throughout the screening process.
Student Films Program Coordinator Zoey Howell Brown commented, “Student films continue to set the standard for the film industry by their unlimited creativity and undying innovation for cinematic storytelling. I am grateful to have the opportunity to curate and coordinate this program for filmmakers of all ages in a festival environment where their ideas are embraced, nurtured and strengthened for their future careers.”
