Overview:
- Planet Detroit awards prizes to three student environmental films at the Michigan Student Film Festival.
- Winning films address PFAS in the Huron River, a Green Ribbon School's sustainability programs, and native pollinator gardens in Troy.
- The festival screened 466 submissions from elementary through high school students at Detroit Film Theatre.
For many students at the 58th Michigan Student Film Festival, the experience was unforgettable.
Bennett Fysh, fourth grader at Hayes Elementary School in Livonia Public Schools, said seeing the film he helped create on the big screen is “the biggest thing that has ever happened to me.”
Hosted at the Detroit Film Theatre and presented by the Digital Arts, Film & Television, a nonprofit promoting creative media education, the April 18 event celebrated young filmmakers from elementary to high school.
Students competed across four award levels – merit, honor, excellence, and best of show – with a packed theater of friends and family gathering to watch the festival’s top selections from a record 466 submissions. The best of show winners were screened at the awards ceremony.
From a hybrid fiction and stop-motion animation addressing self harm, to a jump scare piece, to public service announcements about safe teenage driving, each film reflected the concerns and creativity of a new generation.
Environmental films honored by Planet Detroit
Planet Detroit sponsored three environmental film awards by grade level, and the winners received $100 each.
The elementary school winner: a Charlie Chaplin-esque slapstick comedy, “The Jolly Fellows Visit the Huron River,” from the Rudolf Steiner School in Ann Arbor. The film charmed audience members, drawing giggles from the crowd amid its subtle environmental messaging.
In the black and white film, students romp around the forest, mimicking a bird watcher or fisherman, and touch on the dangers of eating fish from a PFAS-contaminated river.
The middle school winner, “The Hayes Way,” offered an energetic look into Hayes Elementary School in Westland, which earned the 2024 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School award for its focus on waste reduction and interactive environmental education.
Using a phone attached to a selfie stick, the Green Team, a group of students focused on sustainability activities during school hours, took viewers into a day in their life, where they compost during meals, take turns wheeling the recycling bin to the curb, and learn about the pollinator garden.
One Hayes student brought the habits home by inspiring her family to compost.
Christine Lakatos, Hayes art teacher and Green Team leader, brought in photographer John Donabedian to help produce the film.
“I made a point of working with the kids so that it was their ideas,” Donabedian said. “It’s really the kids, they’re the ones who really rose to the occasion, made it so special.”
At the high school level, the film “Why Native Plants?” from the Athens High School in Troy won best of show. It was produced with the support of a grant from Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism for which students helped apply.
The film came from the desire to beautify the area around the Troy School District with native pollinator gardens, said Adam Burns, a film teacher at Athens High School. The students developed a natural relationship with the film’s participants, he said.
“Most kids will have the questions and they’ll read them, and they’re not even listening to what someone is saying,” Burns said.
The students were building a relationship, he said: “They’re just good at talking to adults.”
The three students involved in the film buzzed as they came down from the stage after accepting their award.
Samantha Sandy, junior at Athens High School, interviewed participants for the film, which she said was her favorite part.
“It was so interesting to get so many different people’s perspectives on native plants and how that kind of brings community and brings people together,” Sandy said. “I always think it’s a very interesting relationship we have with plants and our ecosystem as a whole.”
‘You should be very proud’
The emcee for the event, Ryan Patrick Hooper, host of the WDET-FM radio show “In The Groove,” encouraged students to keep making work, noting that his career started at 10 years old with a blog post about a blues music legend.
“The work that you are doing in high school is important,” Hooper said. “I’ve been on the Sunday front page of The New York Times, several times, and that’s because I started my career there.”
“You should be very proud of the work you’re doing, because that first proof of concept is usually what you need to convince somebody else,” Hooper said.
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