By CHLOE ALEXANDER – Variety Editor
Seven Clarke Central High School students entered films into the Ripple Effect Film Contest, hoted by the EcoFocus film festival.
The issue of water conservation, a key component to the ongoing environmentalist movement, was brought to the attention of residents in Athens, Ga. on March 22 by way of the EcoFocus Film Festival.
People gather at Cine in downtown Athens for the viewing of the commercials and a documentary concerning the water crisis. Photo by Porter McLeod.
EcoFocus, an organization that originated at the University of Georgia, uses short films to inform audiences about environmental issues.
“Films selected for EcoFocus reveal the planet’s beauty and the environmental challenges facing this and future generations and highlight inspirational stories about people working to protect the environment and its inhabitants,” The EcoFocus website says.
The Ripple Effect, an organization devoted to water conservation, partnered with EcoFocus in order to create the Ripple Effect Film Project. Open to filmmakers of any age or experience, contestants were required to create a 30-second commercial promoting water conservation.
Among the student category, seven Clarke Central High School students were featured in the finalist category. Senior Rachel Morgan’s film, Conserve Water, juniors Rebecca Butler and Kira Pollack’s film Water Wench’s Words of Wisdom and film maker Kemarcis Howard, Aerick McGee, Kenneth Gibbs, and Mondavis Sims’ film, Water Matters, were shown.
Morgan’s interest in filmmaking motivated her to enter the contest.
“Since I’m interested in film, I was like, ‘sure, I’ll do it,” Morgan said. “I didn’t actually think I was going to be a finalist.”
Butler and Pollack, however entered the contest through the 4-H Cooperative Extension.
“One of the ladies at the 4-H office told us about it and it was portfolio filler for (District Project Achievement). My project was conservation and my partner, Rebecca Butler, was photography, so it just worked out really well,” Pollack said.
Water Wench’s Words of Wisdom displayed a superhero-like character who encouraged wasteful water users to change their habits through rhymes.
“It was a trial and error process. We started out with different skits where I was Water Wench and my partner would be doing wasteful activities, like washing a load that wasn’t full and I would come in with a rhyme and tell her not to,” Pollack said. “And then we got it together and it was way too long because it had to be 30 seconds. So, instead, we came up with a poem, so we made it kind of fun.”
Seventeen films were followed by a screening of the documentary about the world’s water crisis, Last Call at the Oasis, directed by Jessica Yu.
While the contest was an opportunity for filmmaking, Pollack feels that the water conservation movement was the most important aspect of the night.
“It was a really good opportunity, but conservation has just become a really big issue so I’ve been as active as I could be,” Pollack said.
