Schools at the Festival

by Rover Dijkstra

After not having seen a movie in a theater for almost 4 years, it was really exciting to attend the SFFILM film festival at the Castro theater to watch Zero Gravity with my media class.

Zero Gravity is a film about middle school students in San Jose who enter a coding contest held by NASA. As I listened to the dramatic music while Carol and her teammates struggled and overcame problems in their code, losses in the competition, and personal problems, I thought back to the similar experiences I had in my school’s student government over the 3 years I was part of it, and how much I have learned. In the documentary, Carol and her friends lose against another team but picked themselves up again to help that team throughout the rest of the competition. This reminded me of the many times when I lost student government elections, but kept going, and joined forces with the people that beat me to improve our school.

The documentary reminded me that you should never give up because you will find a way to succeed and continue, even if things don’t go the way you had hoped. If the team in Zero Gravity had given up after they lost the competition, they would never have seen their code make it into space. And if I had given up after my first loss (or second or third), I wouldn’t be in the position I am today either, helping the school, learning new skills, and making new friends. Like Zero Gravity showed, the power of cooperation and teamwork can make even the largest leaps possible. Without everyone bringing in their own perspectives, their code might have lacked major parts and could have failed. In my experience, we usually get better ideas when we have many different voices.

Finally, the documentary also brought back memories of our old supervisor. They led us through the years and made sure that we could continue to thrive, even when our leaders left the school and new people joined. They provided us with a safe space to do what we wanted and try new things, just like Tanner did in the documentary.

by Hudson Addiego

I’m so glad SFFILM Short Films are back. I love the program so much because it’s awesome to see what the directors come up with. One of the films that stood out to me this year was The Trails Before Us. This short had a very good story line and an extremely good message, and it made me think about my own life.

I love the idea of just riding a bike down a rocky hill or on a hidden path. Normally, when you ride a bike, you ride it on cement. Dirt paths in the wilderness can bring you closer to nature. I think it’s even cooler if your ancestors have walked the path before you.

The main character, Nigel, was riding with his friends and his mentor, Vincent Salaby. I don’t know how old Nigel is, but I would say most kids Nigel’s age and mine spend so much time on a screen. We really miss out on the magic in the world, like bike riding in the desert.

Nigel’s ancestors believed that the horse was the key to life. They needed the horse for transportation. So the mountain bike is like the modern horse for Nigel and his family. It’s so cool to think about the past and how you can have a connection to it. I live on a ranch where Native Americans used to live. Even though they are not my ancestors, I feel connected to them when I take a walk in my backyard.

My favorite part of the short was when Nigel and his friends had a race. The race was important because Nigel was doing what he did best, bringing people together. It was cool to see how mountain bikes can really be for everyone, just like horses! I sure wonder who won that race. But the real winner is Nigel because he was the one that made the race happen and he was the one that had been riding his bike since he was a kid.

by Saphina Sid

HEARTS POUND VIOLENTLY, almost audibly. The Campbell Middle School Zero Robotics students hold their breath, eyes focused on the classroom screen. The result of their summer-long SPHERES project will be revealed in only a few seconds. As the round between them and another team finishes up, it is replaced on the screen by both the teams’ scores. The students read the numbers expectantly…then let out sighs of disappointment. They have lost. As silence fills the room, they all look at each other and cannot help thinking how far they have come–who they have become–what they have learned. I learned a lot from this documentary on their story, too. Zero Gravity taught me about the joy of learning, the importance of teamwork, and the power of our dreams.

First of all, Zero Gravity emphasized how wonderful learning can be. At the summer program, the teacher, Tanner, created a likable environment for the kids and helped them learn about coding. He truly wanted to make the lessons engaging and help students have fun, and the students clearly expressed how much they enjoyed the program. I saw a large progression of their coding knowledge from the beginning to the end of the film, clearly showing how much they learned! For me, I am a homeschooler and have always had a good learning experience; nevertheless, school can sometimes become slightly monotonous. The documentary showed me that if I have the mindset of being eager to learn, school can be extra fun! Zero Gravity reminded me of the wonder of learning.

Zero Gravity was also a great example of teamwork. The film focused on three kids: Advik, Carol, and Makayla. They were all very different but were able to use their various strengths to complement one another, work together well, and accomplish what none of them could have done alone. The importance of teamwork can be applied to various aspects of our lives. Personally, I tend to want to do certain things on my own, such as art projects, thinking it would be better if I did them myself. But last year, some of my friends from church and I made a group painting as a gift for one of our leaders who was moving away. It looked colorful, showed the joy of the painters who made it, and was something I certainly could not have done alone. This is an example of teamwork like Advik, Carol, and Makayla demonstrated. Zero Gravity showed the value of working together.

Lastly, Zero Gravity proved how working towards our dreams gets us closer to achieving them. Advik, Carol, Makayla, and the other students on their team were all middle schoolers–regular kids. They were able to participate in a competition to try to have their coding be the best and used on the ISS. The kids worked hard at the incredible task, receiving 4th place in California but not stopping there. They cheered on the top California team and, after the finals were over, kept sight of their dreams. As Advik said, “If you reach your final destination, it is not the end. You can keep on going.” The kids, older now, continue to get closer to achieving their dreams, though what those are has changed for some of them. This reminded me to work at my own personal hopes for the future, which include being a writer. Zero Gravity illustrated why we should work towards our dreams.

Zero Gravity was a wonderful documentary about a group of middle schoolers who loved learning, demonstrated teamwork, and worked at their dreams. I want to use what lessons I have learned from them in my life. I am very glad I was able to watch Zero Gravity, an amazing film about some truly amazing kids.

by Ella Picketts

When I was told I would be watching a film for school, I was expecting a documentary of sorts, something scientific and straightforward. I was not expecting a breathtaking display of emotions that left me speechless. The film my class and I saw was titled Over/Under, going from the perspectives of a girl named Stella to her friend named Violet. This film opened my eyes about filmmaking, how I look at artistic expression as a whole, and was an overall work of art that touched me on a deep level.

Throughout my life, art in the form of sketching and painting has always been a way to express myself and my emotions, but as I left the theater, I was blown away at how expressive this film was. The writers, directors, and cinematographers captured so much life and vibrance into Over/Under that I was left with tears in my eyes. The sadness and pain of the two girl’s journey was almost tangible as well as the sheer joy and love woven into it. Seeing how the journey was communicated through the scene choice, soundtrack, stellar writing, and an astronomical acting performance, made me think of how I could incorporate that into my art. Because of this film, one that will be the standard for movies in the future, I was inspired to consider using music, videos, and photography to create art moving forward. Another piece of the film that greatly impacted me was Stella’s, one of the main characters, relationship with her mother. In the film, her mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in a scene that had the wind knocked out of me. For context, my own mother has been diagnosed with a brain and nerve disease called Multiple Sclerosis or MS in the past month. This disease affects her ability to do basic things, going as far as to impair her ability to walk or talk on bad days, symptoms that were reflected in Stella’s mother. This knowledge has of course been hard on my whole family but the raw pain and emotion that was displayed in Stella’s character was something that I immediately connected to. The fear that goes along with news like that was shown so painfully beautifully that it went as far as to bring me to tears in the theater. My friend, who was sitting next to me in the theater, was also crying but for different reasons. While I connected to Stella’s character, she connected to Violet’s and we were able to bond and talk about our different but equally heartbreaking experiences. Over/Under was a tragic and loving and honest film that has inspired me not to use cinematography as a hobby but to express and react to new things in my life through making short films.

In conclusion, my experience with the short film Over/Under has inspired me to become more in depth with the filmmaking industry and my career ambitions. The fact that it touched my classmates and I so deeply through such little time showed me how much care and passion can be immersed into a film that piqued my interest. In the future, I aspire to create an environment and experience that transports my viewers into a story that I create. I want feelings, passion, and emotion to be fiercely incorporated into my future films to even fractionally resemble the breathtaking feature that is the layered and loving Over/Under film.

by Tucker Addiego

Crackle! Pop! Zap! I loved the short film called Battery Daddy. I thought it was cute and funny. The director of Battery Daddy gave emotions, a job, and responsibility to an everyday, emotionless object: a battery! I have batteries all over my house. My computer and my book light both run on batteries. But I never thought about giving a battery emotions and a life. It’s amazing that a short film can make you feel such big feelings. My feelings were mixed when I watched the movie. I felt bad when Battery Daddy had to wake up early to run the bug zapper. I felt sad when Battery Daddy had to work all day even when he was at the beach. And I felt scared when a thunderstorm brewed; Battery Daddy might have drowned. But I felt so happy when Battery Daddy came home to his kids and they recharged him. I think that is kind of like humans when the parents work all day and come home to their kids. I am glad that SFFILM could send the short films out again this year. Otherwise I never would have got to watch Battery Daddy or write this report!