The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing (a wrap-up of my Sundance experience is coming soon) and one of my favorite aspects of the festival is the opportunity to bring my students to a screening free of charge. Yesterday I took a group to see the film Deidra and Laney Rob a Train and, despite a severe winter storm which made driving downtown a lot of fun, it was an amazing experience for both me and my students! This field trip has become something of a tradition at Hunter High (I had kids asking me about it before Christmas break) and this year the response was overwhelming. I asked for 50 tickets, like I usually do, but I had so many students sign up that I asked the director for more! Even so, I still turned kids away. I can't tell you how happy it made me to see my students so excited about independent film! Even if I teach them nothing else, I want my students to know that there are stories that need to be told and voices that need to be heard (maybe now more than ever)! The best part of this whole adventure is that my students absolutely loved the film! I could hear them laughing during the screening and they talked about it all the way back to school on the bus! Most of the students in my afternoon class were still talking about it which made some of the students who couldn't go really jealous. I guess I'll have to request even more tickets next year because many of my sophomores asked if me if they can go again even if they are not in my class any more! Yesterday was a good day!
Note: Deidra and Laney Rob a Train was filmed in Utah! I recognized the Heber Valley Railroad and my friend Adia, who came with me to help chaperone, went to Judge Memorial High School which was also featured!
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