by Cleo Fowler
Have you ever just wanted to sit back and watch amazing people from around the world, in one of the coolest cities ever? SFFILM is an amazing experience with many cool documentaries, and movies. This was my first experience back in a movie theater and I will be telling you how I felt about it.
My teacher had told me that we would be going to The Castro Theater to watch a documentary about middle school students who had made a code for the international Space Station. The documentary was called Zero Gravity. My mind was blown. “How did these students do that?” “Wow!” On Tuesday, April 26, 2022 we walked into the grand Castro Theater. I was ecstatic! It had been two years since I had been in a movie theater! A few minutes after we sat down the documentary started…
As the documentary started, we were introduced to three kids. Makala, Avik, and Carole. It all started when it was announced that Campbell Middle school in San Jose, California, would be participating in a special coding program for the International Space Station. That was right down the road! They were informed that they would be coding satellites for the planet Mars. Half of the time we were in their classroom, and half the time we were in Makala, Avik, And Carol’s homes, and seeing what their personal lives were like.
Toward the end of the documentary it got a little heated. Some of their codes worked while others didn’t. They were working their butts off. Finally, after fixing the code, it worked. But they lost against another California team. Eventually the two teams met, and worked together. One win after the next, and finally the semifinals against Idaho. Idaho and California were similar, but California lost. They were awarded a paper that read: I Coded for the International Space Station! Carol was actually in the theater, watching her documentary. At the end she got on stage and answered questions. I could not believe it! It was almost like meeting an actor, but for a documentary.
Overall I thought that the experience was amazing, fun, and entertaining. (SFFILM, could we do more?) I hope you liked my essay!