Teens make documentary films about what matters most to them

SHARON — Three short documentary films made by eighth grade students at Sharon Center School were shown at the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon on Sunday, Oct. 20.

The films were made under the auspices of the Civic Life Project, run by Dominique Lasseur and Catherine Tatge of Cornwall. Civic Life has made films with high school students around the state. The latest group of films, made by middle school students in Sharon and Cornwall, represents something of an experiment.

Tatge said that Region One School District Assistant Superintendent Lisa Carter suggested extending the filmmaking project to middle schools, and the results from Sharon and Cornwall were so encouraging that the program will now be extended to all six Region One towns.

Steve Muthig, the Sharon teacher who oversaw the project, said the students brainstormed on a list of topics and came up with three: guns and school safety, kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance or national anthem, and school dress codes.

The students had to research the topics and — this was the daunting part — “they had to make phone calls” to potential interview subjects.

The students worked in teams of three: interviewer, camera operator and sound person.

The films had to be edited down to six or seven minutes, so the students learned how to edit video and other aspects of production.

Two of the students, now in ninth grade at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, were Sylvie Stiffler and Margo Minton, whose film was about kneeling for the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem.

Asked what they had learned during the project, they both replied that while the experience hadn’t changed their minds on their topic, they had learned how to get the opposite view and to present it fairly.

The Cornwall films will be screened on Sunday, Nov. 3, 4 p.m. at the Cornwall Public Library.