The WSU-Theme Film Series had yet another successful run this Fall, marking the third consecutive year the Film Studies program has curated the event. 2017 and 2018 were presented by Professor Dr. Johnson’s Film 490 class, specializing in the process of film festival and curation. I was fortunate enough to be involved in both years, programming for “Creativity & Innovation” and “Resilience.” The university has numerous events spanning the academic year, from guest speakers, special one-off film or presentation screenings, ect. It is my belief as a film student who has participated in two curated series’ that using the power of film and in a curated fashion, we can best deliver the power of the university theme each year.
WSU Film Students with film maker Chris Newberry showcasing “Time for Ilhan.”
Being involved in the “Creativity & Innovation” film series last year was a fun and learning experience for me, and while I would consider that series a success, it left room for improvement. After visiting the Mountainfilm Film Festival in Telluride, CO with Dr. Johnson and several other students in this years Film 490 class, we got to see a professional program first hand and gained ideas on how to add that value to our series. Presenting films in a professional manner, getting the word out via social media, and picking films for their individual merit pertaining to “Resilience” as well as working as a cohesive whole were our main objectives. I think we did well in those regards!
Kolten Merk dresses as Mr. Rogers as added-value for his introduction to Would You Be My Neighbor?
Kicking off our series with the James Redford documentary Resilience set the tone for how we defined resilience and how it would be inter-mingled with the plots and characters in films we chose. Focusing on “Adverse Childhood Experiences” and how they force children to overcome toxic stress in their life, relying on resilience to survive was covered in nearly every film we screened. Chiron in Moonlight, Kayla in Eight Grade, Ricky in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and Regan in A Quiet Place all were children growing up in a world that threw obstacles in their way, activating resilience they required to move on.
Chiron from Moonlight overcomes adversity on a daily basis, caused by his hostile living environment
The WSU Resilience committee defines it as “Resilience is about being adaptable. It’s about being flexible. It’s about recognizing that you’ve got strengths that perhaps you never knew you had until you have to use them.” Chiron escapes the despair created in his life by his mother and the drug infested world in his community, building a sculpted body of armor to conceal his sensitive and tormented interior in Moonlight. Kayla is Eight Grade is introverted and ackward. Caught between childhood and young adolescence, she develops the courage to believe in herself and not count on others for gratification. Never finding the right family, Ricky relies on uncle Hec in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, braving the elements of “the bush” and running from the law, developing a loving bond along the way. Finally, Regan Abbott is battling two different sets of demons in A Quiet Place, threatening monsters who want to kill her family if they make a sound, and a swirling feeling of guilt and resentment torturing her and her family over the loss of the youngest boy in the Abbott family. Finding forgiveness for herself and her father, she overcomes her inter torment and hearing disability to defeat the physical threat as well.
These are just four examples of Resilience that was covered in our series, but amazingly you can find it with each of the nine films we presented, and connect the dots on how they cinematically and thematically coalesce. Seeing them with audiences, feeling the confidence from those presenting their films and the responses from the audience before and after the screenings were an experience I won’t soon forget.
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