FILM FESTIVAL
The mission of the BOOST Film Festival is to support the work of talented and dedicated filmmakers and to share their work so that it may inspire, educate, and transform youth and professionals in the youth work field.
The BOOST Film Festival strand offers attendees the opportunity to view films highlighting relevant topics in the education field including issues relating to today’s youth. Many of the featured films offer supplemental materials, such as curriculum, to take back and implement at your school or program. When available, the BOOST Film Festival strand also offers the opportunity for a post-film discussion with the filmmakers or representatives from the film company.
Wednesday, April 29
10:30AM-12:15PM
A Place to Breathe
Moderator: Coming Soon
A PLACE TO BREATHE explores the universality of trauma and resilience through the eyes of immigrant and refugee healthcare practitioners and patients. This feature-length documentary intertwines the personal journeys of those who are transcending their own obstacles by healing others. Combining cinema vérité and animation, the film highlights the creative strategies by which immigrant communities in the U.S. survive and thrive.
The film weaves together the arcs of Rodrigue (DR Congo), Socheat (Cambodia), Norma (Guatemala), and the young couple Edgar and Yania (Mexico and Uruguay) as they pursue their dreams of supporting their communities’ healing. Common ground and chance connections join these unique stories as the film humanizes those who have migrated here, sharing their wisdom and perspectives that enrich and strengthen our communities. This is more critical than ever with the devastating effects that COVID-19 is having on communities of color and immigrant populations. A PLACE TO BREATHE moves audiences to envision new understandings of wellness for all.
2:45PM-4:45PM
The Body Politic
Moderator: Coming Soon
Amid the George Floyd uprising, Brandon Scott, a young reform-minded leader, is elected mayor of Baltimore. His goal is to reduce gun violence in the city through a new, public health-focused, community-led approach, rather than relying solely on policing, as other leaders have done. With unfettered access, THE BODY POLITIC follows him and his team of young community leaders throughout their first year in City Hall, revealing their ambitious plan to lower the city's violence rate and challenge a long history of racism. As opposition mounts, Mayor Scott's commitment to his principles puts his political future in jeopardy. Cameras continue to follow to see if his holistic plan will lead to healing in Baltimore—and maybe even reveal a pathway forward for the nation.
Thursday, April 30
10:00AM-12:00PM
The Smartest Kids in the World
Moderator: Coming Soon
In many ways, THE SMARTEST KIDS IN THE WORLD is a classic coming-of-age, road-trip film – wide-eyed U.S. high school kids, recognizably American in their bravado, setting out to discover the world. What each of them knows at the beginning of their journey as a foreign exchange student is that something is missing in their public high school in the United States. They are not getting what they need and want. They are in various ways stuck, or bored, or unchallenged, and they long for something more. The film acknowledges that the students’ teachers are also not getting what they need and want, and that the students’ parents feel frustrated and powerless in the face of the system. Much has been written about the challenges and failures of education in America. But this film is not about parents or teachers or educational theory; it is about students. Our students. Our children. What do they think about their education? What is their experience and their insight? What do we have to learn by listening to them? Every walk to school, evening study session, and classroom moment is from the students’ point of view. By going with them as they experience high school outside the U.S., we see their openness to adventure and possibility, their discovery, and their wisdom. Over the course of a year, each of them discovers, in differing ways, that schools outside the United States are simply harder; students elsewhere are asked to do more, and they do it. In South Korea, students revere education. There is a camaraderie and a sense of peer support. Students collect everyone’s cell phone at the beginning of each day, they clean their own classrooms, and they cheer each other on at the big test at the end of the year. In European countries, students have more autonomy and free time than in the United States. They have a degree of responsibility for their own education, and they achieve remarkable results. Based on Amanda Ripley’s important book, this film tells the personal stories of four American exchange students whose worldviews shifted as they experienced new cultures and classrooms, and how their journeys impacted their expectations of themselves and their futures.
1:15PM-2:30PM
Locker Room Talk
Moderator: Coming Soon
The docu-short LOCKER ROOM TALK follows the Kingston Tigers over the course of their football season, both on and off the field, as they seek the championship and redefine what it means to be men. Along the way, through the power of true storytelling, they face the cultural expectations of masculinity head-on and ultimately, share deeply personal stories about love, loss, and triumph. Whether or not the Tigers win the game, a bigger battle has been won: the team has changed the way they view women and themselves. The goal of LOCKER ROOM TALK is to inspire men and boys to become empowered to speak up for themselves, each other, and in the face of violence against women. The stories, vulnerability, and bravery of the young men featured in the film will inspire change in other teams, high school and college students, and adults, making the world a freer and safer place for us all.
3:45PM-5:15PM
Fireboys
Moderator: Coming Soon
FIREBOYS is the untold story of young men incarcerated in California who are offered a way out: by fighting wildfires. Immersive and personal, this coming-of-age story is told from the perspectives of young men as they summon the courage to fight fires and confront their pasts.
Alex Bailon, 18, whom we meet in prison, and Chuy Hernandez, 20, who is about to be released after serving his sentence, have both enrolled as volunteer firefighters for the California Department of Corrections and Cal Fire’s conservation “fire” camp program. Among the 43 camps across the state, Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp alone is staffed exclusively by juveniles -- young people under the age of 21.
Following these young men from prison, fighting wildfires in the forests of California, and finally, back to their homes on the outside, Fireboys examines a correctional path that is both hopeful and destructive; California’s fire camps support Alex and Chuy’s rehabilitation but also exploit their labor to address one of the state’s most urgent environmental problems.
Friday, May 1
9:15AM-11:15AM
Make a Circle
Moderator: Coming Soon
From an award-winning filmmaking team, MAKE A CIRCLE follows a group of child care providers who are determined to change how our society values the education of its youngest citizens. With a mix of humor, outrage, and passion, MAKE A CIRCLE captures the unfolding stories of Patricia, a leader of a new union for child care providers, as she fights on behalf of a largely immigrant workforce; Charlotte, another union member who tirelessly lifts up the low-income families in her care; and Anne, the director of a large preschool, who finds novel ways to value and support her teachers when jobs at McDonald's are offering higher pay. Within their stories are interludes that offer a cinematic window into the unique, imaginative world of the young children in their care. The film culminates as thousands of union members march on their state capitol demanding better working conditions, just as their contract is set to expire. Weaving together the magic they create in the classroom, the struggles they endure at home, and their tireless activism for their profession, MAKE A CIRCLE is a moving portrait of life as an early childhood educator and a promising blueprint for fixing our broken child care system.
In partnership with:
GOOD DOCS are films that do good in the world. Their award-winning collection engages and inspires students by featuring rarely-heard stories about individuals and communities working towards a more equitable world. They champion creative expression and complex films that provoke critical thinking. GOOD DOCS represents established documentarians and passionate new filmmakers driven by their experiences as educators, academics, journalists, artists, social workers, community members, and activists. GOOD DOCS films and the GOOD TALKS speaker series offer powerful educational experiences to students and communities everywhere.
Film Festival Contact
Do you have any questions or suggestions about the BOOST Film Festival?
Ana Danielson, BOOST Leadership Team Lead |
Lillian "Lilly" Perez, BOOST Leadership Team |
Please note: Name badges are required to attend all BOOST Conference events including all meals and all workshops
