As the year draws to a close, students eagerly await Trinity’s annual Film Festival. A showcase for the great talent and creativity of young film enthusiasts, this event has been a great tradition at Trinity for the past 21 years. The mastermind behind Film Fest is English teacher Steve Krueger. In his first year at the school, he and one of his students wanted to create a club for film lovers, and the idea was born. Ever since then, attendance has increased which has led to increased donations to United Cerebral Palsy, an organization which Krueger strongly supports. This year’s Film Fest will take place on May 5 where the school’s talented filmmakers will once again showcase their work.
Although both the club and event started out small, it has grown exponentially and there are now many more films and participants than there were in 1996.
“Last year, there were around 80 kids. We had about 25 or 26 films last year, and each film typically has a couple people and some films have a wider cast,” Krueger said. “If you’re talking about people who are on screen, it was well over 100 but if you’re talking about people who are doing the editing and camerawork, it was a smaller group.”
As far as the goal of the Festival for Krueger and his club, they want it to be an enjoyable experience for the school and for the people involved in the films.
“It’s basically an opportunity for everyone to come up with something that they are proud of and to be able to share their creativity with the community,” Krueger said. “There isn’t a theme, and it isn’t a contest. Film Fest is for people to share something artistic with the rest of us, and hopefully for us to enjoy it.”
While Film Fest serves as a fun stress-reliever towards the end of the school year, its most important goal is to raise as much money as possible for the club’s donations. Krueger and the club members chose UCP, and each year the money they raise has increased. In the past years and in this upcoming Festival, the club usually raises a couple thousand dollars.
Krueger also explains that his favorite part of Film Fest is having the students create amazing works for reasons other than school requirements.
“My favorite part is watching the students being able to do something because they are passionate about it, as opposed to because it’s for a grade, and them being able to be creative with a larger community,” Krueger said. “I like seeing them take that chance. Create something, throw it out there into the community. Not creating it because because you’re getting a grade, not creating it for extra credit, but because you genuinely want to and you want to share what you’ve done. I guess that to me is the most exciting part is to see people do that and to get that joy of doing something for their own reasons as opposed to doing it for a grade. It’s nice to have opportunities for people to do something for reasons other than that.”
Right before everyone turns in their films, Mr. Krueger watches some samples from some of the students. So far, he likes what he is seeing.
“I have actually seen a couple bits and pieces of several films, and it looks good!” Krueger said. “It’s fun, but it’s always the last couple weeks everyone’s still working on their films and editing, and there is usually a big crunch in the last two weeks where a bunch of people are getting work in and finishing them.”
There are many pieces that have to come together for a successful Film Fest, and Krueger is an integral part of the process.
“I have a couple different roles,” Krueger said. “One is that I try my best to encourage students to get involved, so recruitment is definitely a part of it… I see things that they have written or performed so I try to encourage those who are creative and who are willing to take some chances.”
Besides this, Krueger also has the roles of guiding the filmmakers, and figuring out the additional details of the event.
“When it comes to the actual films, once they get submitted, I review them all and I give feedback, make suggestions, and talk to the directors,” Krueger said. “Sometimes there are some big changes that come out of that conversation, and sometimes it’s little things, and sometimes I look at it and I say ‘I wouldn’t mess with it at all’ The logistics are kind of tedious, but I do help making sure we have that kind of stuff squared away.”
In addition to watching the students enjoying themselves and being creative, Krueger is also fond of the variety that every class brings to Film Fest.
“It’s a different group of seniors that are working on the lead film,” Krueger said. “Each group comes at it from a different perspective and that’s always fun for me to see all the different ways thats students can come up with an idea for the main film we often show in assembly to generate interest and buzz.”
