As our SxSw festival/conference experience comes to an end, Craig and I decided to navigate the process of using our badges to go see a film. After reviewing the list of options for ours, we settled on the Texas High School Shorts! With so many #makerspaces including places to make movies, I thought it would be enjoyable to see what type of short films student film-makers who made the cut of getting into the SxSw film festival were creating. Getting accepted into the SxSw Film festival is quite an honor, and these high school students shared amazing short films that showed they were no longer aspiring film-makers - they had earned the right to call themselves film-makers.
Listening to these young film makers during the Q&A left me thinking about how important it is to honor different types of making in our makerspaces.
A popular reason for having a makerspace at our schools is to create problem solvers and problem finders. I hear many conversations about making sure that there is "learning" happening in our makerspace and not just "arts and crafts". This makes me flinch! Yes, we want meaningful making! But there are are many meaningful ways to make. Creating something that solves a problem is ONE way to unsure meaningful making, but it's not the only way to make meaningfully.
I love the way Michael Pope (Barre Town School) guides students towards meaningful making in his #makerspace using the following project selection framework. His students can select projects that meet a need in their community, but they can also could meet a more personal need - the need to learn a skill or the need to communicate a message or inspire others to understand your perspective.
I find Michael's project selection guideline an inclusive frame that welcomes many different types of making and also honors where young people are at in this time of their life where so much identity making is happening.
As you define the WHY in your MAKERSPACE - ask yourself
-- is my WHY inclusive enough to welcome many different type of creators and makers?
-- does my WHY expand WHO can call themselves a maker
-- does my WHY honor HOW students want to make
I walked out of the theatre thinking hard about the issues that our students face today and how they are different than those I faced, and even those my children faced. These young talked about their process (ranging from 6 months to 2 years) to produce their very short film and how they wanted to communicate their perspective in the making of their films.
Just reading the description of the entries that these young film makers submitted will provide you with some ideas of the films we watched this afternoon, and why I think it's important that we make room for creative personal making in our makerspaces. Sometimes what we make is not to solve a problem in our community. Sometimes our making is to understand ourselves better or to help the world understand us better.
TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS
Winner: Fifteen
Director: Louisa Baldwin
"A lovely narrative of a teenage girl falling in love and experiencing the unique highs and lows of a lesbian relationship. The voiceover wonderfully expresses the complexities of publicly expressing her sexuality. The visuals provide snapshots of the journey, allowing the audience to feel with the characters."
Special Jury Recognition: Double Cross
Director: Amiri Scrutchin
"A short that skillfully exhibits multiple drawn styles of animation while telling an enjoyable story about a basketball game."
Our viewing included the following films
from SxSw Program
BlueInk
As various animated illustrations and colors appear across the frame, the voice of a human trafficking victim tells her story from the very beginning to the very end.
Sex is Weird
A boy and a girl sit in awkward silence at a coffee shop. He breaks the tension with "I googled it." Her confusion prompts rambling justification: he googled how to be good at sex because he wants her to get the most out of their first time as possible. Touched by his awkward sincerity, she asks if he is a virgin and he says yes. Upon confirmation, she opens up about a scarring past sexual experience, asserting that she doesn't feel ready to introduce sex to their relationship. The boy realizes how vulnerable she has made herself, and reassures her their relationship means much more than just sex. If she's uncomfortable with it, sex can wait. Both agree that sex is weird, relieved at last.
Learning to Swim
This film is about an innocent, naive young woman falling in love with a boy who has been prone to substance abuse. They experience many firsts together only to end apart because of his self-loathing and depression, all of which surround his partying habit.
By the Pool
Two friends are relaxing in a pool at night. As they talk about an awkward event at school, they come to some strange realizations.
A Pinch of Love
Amy (Madie Riley), a young housewife with a passion for cooking, attempts to rekindle her relationship with her work-a-holic husband, Jack (Jack Young) after they've become distant.
Trepidation
A teenage high school student is constantly reminded and holds a detrimental amount of anxiety about the chance of a school shooting. As she carries throughout her day, her fear grows and she has a breakdown, feeling helpless and insecure at a place of learning and sanctum.
Infallible
Dawn constantly messes with her neighbor, Miles, on her nightly dog walk, pretending to live out her fantasies of being a spy. After Miles disappears, a strange turn of events presents Dawn with the chance to achieve her goals of being a secret agent, but her mission's outcome is nothing like she expected.
Forbidden Fruit
While roaming around an unusual and vaguely sinister landscape, a cat and her witch come upon a strange presence that has dire consequences for both of them.
Galene
Another mailbox full of college letters throws a teenage girl into a state of anxiety. After she fails to achieve a peaceful state, she looks beyond her mundane life into the bigger world that is full of wonder.
The Making of Chase Humes
"The Making of Chase Humes", is a 5 minute documentary about a female-to-male transgender student, who just wants to be accepted and treated as a normal person. He talks about how the current political climate makes him fear for his future, as well as how people don't take trans-gendered people seriously despite the high suicide rates; most his family isn't very supportive despite all him asking for is acceptance. Due to his coming out he lost friends, but he goes on to say he gained his best friend from coming out. To wrap the film up he sends out a message to everyone who is going through a similar experience by telling them that all the fighting for rights is worth it in the end.
Fifteen
Fifteen is a tough age for a girl--especially when you fall in love for the first time with another girl. People stare, friends suddenly turn judgmental, and parents just don't understand. But it's worth it.
Revue
Two characters stand in a studio space, a female and a male. They are preparing for a performance of some type. The live studio audience watches their every movement. The two figures have a conversation about how they want to perform and how “they” will judge them. While conversing the male undresses from formal clothes and the female gets dressed up into formal clothes.
Pájaro
An experimental short film in which the themes of societal norms, staying inside the lines, and the fear of the unknown are challenged. Like a bird in a cage, we often let our notions dictate the paths we chose. This short film portrays the beauty in going beyond everything you have ever known.
Abby
“Abby” tells the story of two childhood best friends from the perspective of Abby (Lizzie Shaw)-an eccentric high-spirited girl. Chloe (Brinley MacKerron) is not as social as other kids her age, but a friendship starts when Abby comes up to her one day, and they have been close ever since.
Double Cross
In the fourth quarter of the championship basketball game, our hero is down by one. The home team desperately tries to gain the advantage but their attempts are thwarted by the opposing team and their leader. Our hero tries to face the enemy one on one, but is overwhelmed by the enemy's sheer power, sending our hero into a spiritual experience that grants him immense power. Our hero uses this newfound power to overpower the opposing team and send the adversary into oblivion, winning the championship game.
Astray
A young man is walking home from school as an unexpected situation abruptly interrupts him. The young man gets himself involved and helps out gaining himself a friendship. The friendship goes on until the young man realizes his new friend is a bad influence on his life. The young man tries to change his ways but it is too late.
A Grand Gesture
Gunter has been moping around for months since his ex-girlfriend broke up with him. Infuriated by this, his best friend Harold, devises a plan for Gunter to win back her heart. From stealing candy to a serial killer on the loose, who knows what might happen.
Yellow Fever
Five friends fight over who gets to pay the bill at dinner.
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