STAHS French Language Film Festival Victory

STAHS French Language Film Festival Victory
Posted on 06/18/2021
Two students with their award

2 Students with their award

The grade 7 and 8 St. Thomas Aquinas French Immersion Classes recently submitted films into the Festival de Théatre de Jeunesse. While all the students produced fantastic work, two groups wound up sweeping the categories. 

  • The Grade 7 film “T.A.P.D.” was produced by Rowan Phillips, Jacob Silva, Maddyn Hughes, Halle Hodges, and Tazio Mastromatteo, and took the awards for best writing, sound effects, as well as ‘meilleur travail d’ensemble.’

  • Special recognition was given to Maddyn Hughes for leading her team and keeping everyone motivated as the “Socionaute par excellence.”

  • Rowan Phillips was also commended with a ‘prix de présence.’

  • The Grade 8 film “L’appareil photo” was produced by Tieryn Hall, Cassie Olsen, Waverley Wiebe, Ellie Duchominsky, and Marissa Tomkins.This film won awards for Best Directing, the ‘Prix Populaire,’ as well as the Best Film award.

Classes had begun this activity last year, but the festival was cancelled due to the pandemic. This school year, the students worked hard to get their films completed on time.

Grade 7 French Immersion teacher Jeff Sachowski talked about the work the students put into their films.

“It’s quite remarkable how much self-motivation and perseverance the students showed. We started this project in January, and the festival was late May, and over those 5 months they have only really been able to film in the classroom or outside. You all know what February was like this year. They persevered through it all and they kept at it, and they participated in the online discussions with the people who were assisting us with the filming, editing, and all those pieces. And they had to work with their group over the 5 months on top of their regular schoolwork, so it’s really impressive the amount of work the kids put into it while also focusing on their regular academics.” He said.

Working outside, students wrote, shot, edited, and produced their short films, all in French. Student filmed the videos entirely on their cellphones.

Grade 8 French Immersion teacher James Trudeau expressed his pride in his students.

“Mr. Sachowski and I are extremely proud of all our students, and we’re incredibly impressed with the results they’ve achieved this year.” He said.

St. Thomas Aquinas High School was the only Ontario school to take part in the event, which is hosted in partnership with the University of Saint-Boniface.

Grade 7 student Maddyn Hughes, who helped create the film “T.A.P.D” and received special recognition for leading her team and keeping everyone motivated as the “Socionaute par excellence” said she was happy to have had the opportunity.

“I want to thank my teachers for giving us this opportunity because it was so much fun. I hope to do it again next year.” She said.

Grade 9 student Tieryn Hall who worked on the film “L’appareil photo” said she appreciated learning something new in a unique way.

 “The most rewarding part was being recognized and learning about filming and editing, getting better at it, and just learning as we went along.”

Students collaborated with a pair of French-speaking experts and learned the ins and outs of film production via Zoom and Google Meets over the course of the school year. Last school year, students also had the opportunity to work with local film maker Matt Kennedy.

Maddyn with the awardAwardTieryn with the award

Watch the winning videos here:


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