Move upstage a foot. Downstage an inch. A little to stage right… Perfect! 

      The film festival, says drama teacher Nancy Green, was “one of the brighter things to emerge from the pandemic.” With previous heavy restrictions on performances in the state of Maryland, students “could not perform live, [so they] studied film, and then made [their] own short films.”  

      This celebration is “an outlet for [students] to share their artwork,” claims the teacher. In the past, this has been a virtual event with “live emcees [and] hosts on Teams,” states Green. This will remain the case for this year, she claims. 

      The festival will be returning this year on March 3 to “bring joy to people in these difficult times,” voices Silvestri. However, this year, the event will fit better with “Mr. Dougherty’s new film class and Mrs. Chandler’s film/media […] classes[,]” says Green. These classes will enable students to have a prior background in cinematography before attempting to create a movie of their own.  

      One of the major changes this year will be that Mrs. Jennifer Chandler, journalism teacher, will be taking the reins and Green will take “much more a supporting role [in] just advising and judging this year,” announces the drama teacher.  

      It was determined that this tradition would continue at North Harford because of its popularity the previous year. When the demand for a film festival was so high and the response was so positive, Green admits that she and Chandler “decided [they] would work together to make it happen again.”   

      Green encourages submissions from all students for the event in order to “get your voice and your art [out] to a wider audience[.]” Not only is the event accessible to family members from around the world, the teacher declares, there is also “a chance to win in the various categories,” and opportunities for students to demonstrate communication skills to colleges.  

      The ability to learn advanced qualities and apply them to resumes is something Romm emphasizes as a reason to participate. In addition to the new skill set, Green states there are “lots of generous businesses in the community who are happy to support our student filmmakers with donations of prizes,” as well as gifted t-shirts for those who enter.  

      The seniors are experienced filmmakers, both having participated in the festival last year. Romm says that they desired to take part in the festivities again because their “experience last year was very fun[.]” Because of their engagement in the event, Romm adds, they “learned a lot about broadcasting and film.” 

      With intentions of creating a film together, Silvestri voices their group will be “a comedy”. Specifically, Romm asserts, a film about backstage chaos during a show. Silvestri encourages others to participate because it’s a fun group activity for friends.