The Midtown Film Festival, an annual event intended to showcase the work of film class students and after-school participants, took place on May 7 this year. The festival displayed a variety of student-made films as well as the spring film.

This year’s spring film is put on by student volunteers and directed by Midtown’s theater teacher Brooke Collins. The production is titled “Between Heaven and Hell,” and follows a girl’s exploration of purgatory.

“It is about a girl who hits her head at volleyball practice and goes into what might be the in-between world where she’s not quite dead, not quite alive,” Collins said. “She has a task that she has to complete in order to cross over. So, its five days she keeps living over and over and over again trying to figure out what her task is to move on.”

The spring film required students to participate in a variety of roles, including both acting and technical work. Sophomore and actor Lylah Schaefer found the project to be hard at times, yet rewarding.

“So much work goes into making the spring film,” Schaefer said. “For the crew alone, there’s at least eight different jobs. You have your camera team, your sound team, the people in charge of the set, your assistant director, the director, the director of photography and more … By the time we wrap filming, we will have been working for about three months, and then we’ll still have to edit it all together. It’s absolutely a consuming project, but it’s all worth it.”

In addition to the spring film, student films are made during school hours by film classes. Senior film student Kinley Roberts said the films are a team effort and are primarily led by students.

“The films we make in class are super student-driven; we pick our student directors and then hold auditions and assign tech crews,” Roberts said. “From there, it is totally up to us to create and stick to our schedules, secure locations, shoot and edit 10-15 minute films, typically in the span of a few months. It is a super great experience getting to make films I’m passionate about with a bunch of really talented people, and it’s a really collaborative effort where everyone works on almost every aspect of the project.”

Roberts had a film featured in the 2024 and 2025 festivals, and said they enjoyed getting to work with other students. They believe the festival was helpful for receiving feedback as well as showing the effort gone into each project.

“I think the film festival is super important because it gives us an opportunity to show off all of the hard work we have put into our films over the years, and it is a really great opportunity for people who are not in the class to get their films shown as well,” Roberts said. “We also have a brief talk-back at the end of the festival, where the people involved in each film can answer questions and get some really helpful feedback to help improve our overall film-making skills.”

Collins believes film-making is particularly meaningful at Midtown as it lays the foundations for different careers.

“I think it’s really important [for students] to learn the technical aspects of [film] through learning camera equipment [and] editing software,” Collins said. “I think it also connects to multiple careers whether it be marketing, branding or something that you are building for a product, business pitches, but then of course it relates to the film industry, and we have a strong film industry here in Atlanta.”

Schaefer believes the festival helps bring exposure to a lesser known aspect of Midtown’s drama department.

“I feel like films can be pretty overlooked at Midtown,” Schaefer said. “Everyone knows about all the different stage productions we have throughout the year, but not too many know about the film festival. It’s a good opportunity to expose people to a different side of Midtown’s Drama Department.”

Roberts said they enjoyed creating their own film and looks forward to seeing new projects.

“My favorite part has definitely been working with other students to come up with some really creative ideas and getting a lot of input on basically every aspect of the films, with everyone constantly striving to make the films the best they can,” Roberts said.

Schaefer believes the festival was a cumulative representation of the actors’ and crew’s achievements throughout the year.

“I think the film festival is important to the film students and the spring film crew because it’s an opportunity to showcase the hard work that went on to create the final product,” Schaefer said. “The film students work all year to create a few different projects, so to be able to view the whole film is quite gratifying. It’s also very rewarding to be able to witness the entire process, from when you first get the script to seeing it up on screen. Overall, the film festival acts as somewhat of a ‘finish line.’”