SDAFF Facebook SDAFF Twitter SDAFF YouTube SDAFF Home Contact SDAFF Submit your film today! SDAFF Home SDAFF Home Image Map

Saturday, May 28, 2011

REEL VOICES: Feeling Warm-and-Fuzzy @ the iVIE Awards

Little did I know that the 2011 iVIE Awards would turn out to be one of the most energetic and loving award ceremonies I've ever been to-- not to mention it included one of the cutest award acceptance speeches...! It was last Tuesday, at the Civic Theatre in Downtown San Diego, when I went to cheer for our two Reel Voices 2010 students, Calvin and Angel, who were there to receive awards in the high school filmmaker category.

The iVIE Awards are "a San Diego County K-12 student media festival held by the San Diego County Office of Education." I was impressed at the grandeur of the event, the excitement from the crowd, and the quality of films from these young students.

It was the most lively film festival ceremony I've ever attended--lots of younger people, but with so much energy! Congrats to Angel and Calvin (and Lauren, who could not make it) for once again being recognized as amazing filmmakers. Angel and Calvin also shared some "advice" for this year's incoming Reel Voices students... (Watch the video!)

At one point, the MC said to the audience, "When I say go, shout out Thank You and the name of the teacher who helped you with the video project", and of course I simply expected to hear some jumbled bunch o words, (and yes I got exactly that) but I also didn't expect to somehow feel moved by it... because it truly did! The yelling was incomprehensible, but the faces and gestures of the students were filled with so much pride, sincerity, and happiness, that--at the moment I so wished I were a teacher (!) ... was so thankful for the school teachers who probably all have struggled with budget issues these days ... and so glad for the students who experienced the special bond that can build through making a film together.

If anyone's reading this, I want to ask you if you have one or two teachers whose names you'd shout out if you were asked that very same question... and have you told them yet? They'd probably love that, wouldn't they. Hm, *opening Gmail* ...

2 comments:

  1. Hey Jini!

    I love that you attended this ceremony. I'm always telling myself to remember to attend community events as so. Keeping with the teacher theme of your closing question, and the overall nature of your blog and the hardworking teachers all over the city, I have a teacher that I feel very grateful for.

    I always talk about her to my friends, family, and co workers both at my job and at my internship here at SDAFF. She is the hardest working instructor I have ever met, and she's just a Graduate Teaching Assistant. I want to say THANK YOU to my Japanese instructor, Liao-sensei (Mrs.Liao), at San Diego State University. She is by far the most motivated and committed to her students, out of all the instructors I have ever had. She knows each of her students personally and therefore helps them use Japanese for their specific needs. She supports SDAFF as well and promotes it in her classes for us. Japanese is not my major, but she has made me seriously consider changing it to Japanese.

    I like how you pointed out that teachers these days are struggling with the budget. The greatest teachers are the ones that, though effected by the budget, still push through and give even more attention and care into their students despite their budget setback. This makes me have hope in what lots of Americans recently have called the "dying education system of America." Thanks for the insightful video and blog Jini <3 !

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks carissa for the thoughtful reply. makes me want to meet your teachers as well. all the teacher-student, mentor-mentee relationships that form... i think they'll last a lifetime and is something very special :)

    ReplyDelete