Student Film on Cyberbullying Wins
The Grace High School Film Team won the “Made In New York” prize at the All American High School Film Festival Invitational for their film “Olivia.” The honor is awarded to the best overall team from New York City that exemplifies the experience of growing up in NYC while carrying the core message of the competition; this year’s topic was cyberbullying.
The team was tasked to write a script that brought social awareness to cyberbullying and its impact on young people and online culture. They were given only three days to film and edit this project, and it was screened as part of the broader film festival at AMC 42st Theaters. With the Tyler Clemente Foundation and AT&T as sponsors, prizes were awarded to films that best represented this mission.
Student director, Manny Cordoba ’17, said the team learned a lot through the competition, “Most of the team, myself included, didn't think cyberbullying was as big an issue as the festival suggested. But the process of writing and researching on the topic showed us how important it is to make this issue more visible.”
He went on to describe the intensity of the three-days, “It was extremely hectic and stressful and a lot of emotions boiled during the course of the three days we had to shoot and edit. But after all was said and done, it was extremely rewarding, and the whole team was proud of what we were able to accomplish. And winning an award wasn't too shabby either.”
Congratulations to all of the student-filmmakers:
Aedan Boppert ‘17
Laurent Brodie ‘18
Manny Cordoba ‘17
Henry Curcio ‘17
Stella Gatti ‘17
Emma Hawkins ‘18
Noah Heckman ‘17
Jonah Henkle ‘18
Henry Kamp ‘17
Kit Keenan ‘17
Geoffrey Leong ‘19
Amelia Milne ‘17
Natalie Raver Goldsby ‘18
Tia Richards ‘18
Hugo Patterson ‘19
Ian Porter '17
Ian Porter '17
Ivan Specht ‘19
Naomi Talbott ‘18