Every year in May, Graded hosts the Graded Film Festival. Each IB film student showcases their final film, and for the seniors, these are the final versions they send in for their IB grade. It is an exciting and fun culminating event, and one that brings together many different community members. Luciana Barbosa, the IB Film teacher here at Graded, will organize with her classes yet another amazing festival in a few weeks time. The Talon interviewed her to get some more information about the festival, and see what it is like from her perspective, as a teacher who led them through their IB Film careers.

The Talon: Describe your experience of the film festival:

LB: This is the first senior class that I teach for the full two years, so for me it will feel more complete as a journey because I will have followed their steps all the way. It feels like a culmination of the year to me: all their hard work pays off because, after learning so much about theory and practice, it is during the festival that we see all their work coming together. Plus, it is the very last Graded event of the year before graduation, so I think it is an emotional time for everyone, but especially for the seniors. The fact that there are so many people involved–students teachers, admin–I think it makes it an all- and well-rounded community event.

The Talon: What is your favorite part of the film festival?

LB: The aspect of being an event, not just a screening. My big contribution to film festival was to push it to being more of an event for everyone, and make it as an official award ceremony, but still an entertainment event. Last year, we had a band formed by IB film students and we had a stand-up host who was also an IB film students. We want to keep up with this spirit this year again. It is very entertaining for everyone on top of the already entertaining films.

The Talon: What types of movies and genres we are going to be seeing this year?

LB: All kinds! This is for me, the highlight of the year. We have a really big range. We have a big family film, a romance, a sci-fi drama. We have a documentary, we have a comedy and another drama-drama–like, all the way–and we have an absurdist comedy, a mockumentary (a subgenre of documentary, where they pretend to be serious but they’re not. It uses the language of a documentary, but it’s actually fictitious and it tends to be funny). Expect everything.

The Talon: Will there be something different this year?

LB: I think what’s different this year, is that we’ll finally have more female voices in cinema.

The Talon: Follow up question: has the amount of girls in IB Film increased as compared to last year?

LB: Way more girls. This is the year of the girls at Graded film! I’m actually looking for statistics, but it’s the biggest population of female film students.

The Talon: This is your second year being an IB film teacher: what is something that impressed you?

LB: I would say the passion of the IB film students and how far they go to accomplish their visions. There are some major productions in place.

The Talon: What is something you look forward to for next year?

LB: I look forward to a new wave, I would call it, because as an educator, I’m very passionate about forming artists and creative people. This will be my first class that truly understands and embraces who I am as a film or art educator. So, I look forward to the collaboration that we can set out to.

The Talon: Would you like to add anything?

LB: I think I would like to reinforce how fun we want the event to be! It starts at 7pm, but at 6pm we start the red carpet. Here, everyone can get a chance to be with the directors and all the film crews members and understand their creative process and ask questions.

Check out the Graded Film Festival instagram: @gradedfilmfestival, and come watch! If you have any questions, don’t forget to ask!

LINE UP:

ANDROID TAKEOVER (mockumentary)

Nolan Boerner – writer/director/editor

Marcela Riechert – cinematographer

FIVE STARS (comedy)

Patricio de la Maza – writer/director

Felipe Hannud – cinematographer

João Salles Leite – editor

Gaetan Bastard – sound designer

FOLIE A DEUX (musical)

Bruna Piccin – writer/director

Luiza Cordeiro – cinematographer/editor

Alan Gruenewald – sound designer

JUST LIVE (documentary)

Jun Shinagawa – director/cinematographer/editor

HELL, 2014 (comedy)

Eli Russel – writer/director/cinematographer/editor

ING (fantasy)

Bruna Piccin – writer/director/editor

Patricia Geyerhahn – cinematographer

NUM SÓ INSTANTE (drama)

Julie Hollard – director

Ana Luiza Caovilla – writer

Patricia Geyerhahan – cinematographer/editor

PRIVATE (war drama)

Nacho Pricolo – director

Florens van Ballegooijen – editor

Giovana Mendes – sound designer

Bruna Picci – writer

WARPED (sci-fi drama)

Clara Gil – writer/director/cinematographer/editor