Student Films Selected for Detroit Film Festival

Soon after Upper School Spanish students graduate from St. Luke’s, the Spanish-speaking world will be mostly urban. On this premise, students in Carrie Meatto’s Spanish III class considered the question: How can we positively influence urbanization in the Spanish-speaking world? 

Meatto shared: "Students formed groups and explored the challenges and opportunities of urbanization. Each group created and entered a short, stop-motion film to the Better Cities Film Festival, developed in partnership with the United Nations habitat program. Their films transformed their ideas, perspectives, curiosities, fears, and hopes surrounding the urban future into engaging narratives and proposals, underscoring connections between their lives and others across the globe. Students narrated their films in Spanish and included English subtitles, using the subjunctive mood and the future tense, along with vocabulary about the environment."

When asked about the project, one student commented, “I found the problems cities face are varied and numerous, but I now know they aren't impossible to get rid of.”

Another shared, “Although I knew that cities were getting bigger, I never stopped to think about how this might impact the environment and what would happen to the land when cities develop on it. I learned that Latin American cities were built around rivers that were used as their water source, but now these rivers are unusable because of the pollution plaguing them.”

The Better Cities Film Festival takes place in Detroit, October 7-10, and showcases 80 films, highlighting how communities can make a difference when they work collaboratively. This year, three St. Luke’s student films have been selected for screening!

Congratulations to:

Max Kavan ‘23, Aidan Gunn ‘21, Justin Higgins ‘23, Sebastian Ortiz ‘23
Los efectos de contaminación del aire en las ciudades y la lucha que necesitamos luchar
​​The Effects of Air Pollution on Cities and The Fight We Need to Fight

Selected for the category: “I Am Your Destiny: Love Letters to Urban Planning & Design”

This short film tracks three young people from New York and Bogotá – Enrique, Gerónimo, and Miguel – and looks at how their lives have been impacted by or have the power to impact air pollution in Bogotá. It analyzes Bogota’s environmental relationship with New York and discusses how our actions at home can help fight against air pollution abroad.
 
Matthew Seale ‘23, Grant Douglas ‘23, Phillip Etergino ‘23
La paloma en la ciudad 
The Pigeon in the City

Selected for the category: “Wild Cities” 

This film shows the importance of our natural environment from the perspective of an Amazonian bird. The bird endures many hardships due to urbanization, including deforestation and pollution, which are problems that need to be addressed more in our society today.
 
Gordon Stuart ‘23, Matthew DellaRusso (former SLS student), Thomas Skinner ‘23
Energía: Una batalla fatal 
Energy: A Fatal Battle

Selected for the category: “Unlikely Environmental Heroes: How Cities Can Save the Planet” 

The world needs energy, but what kind? Renewable energy. This short film explains the importance of renewable energy and shows the struggle between renewable energy and dirty energy – protagonist and antagonist – and ways cities can lead the green revolution.

Each of the students received an official selection laurel from the film festival, and the films are in the running to be screened at the UN World Urban Forum in Poland in June.