PSIFF screening films at local high schools to inspire students
Students from high schools in the eastern Coachella Valley got the chance to learn about the films being shown at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Monday.
It’s a packed house at the theater at Indio High School as students gathered for an anticipated screening. One student excited for the chance.
“I felt honored. To be a part of the Palm Springs International Film Festival and our school being a part of it. This means a lot,” Renae Farias, an Indio High School senior, said.
The high school hosted a student screening day and invited students from Shadow Hills High School to watch a series of films, one of them being “What Will People Say”, an emotional drama about a Pakistani-Norwegian girl dealing with a clash of cultures which addressed topics like abuse and immigration.
“I just think it gives people who don’t know about that culture itself, not that it’s a bad thing, but something that culture,” Farias said.
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The film festival says it’s done these screenings for the past 13 years expanding it to all school districts in the valley and the Morongo Basin. It’s meant to showcase independent films students might not otherwise see.
“Kind of broaden the horizons of young students. To bring cinema from around the world that many of these students may not know about,” Zack Solomon, manager of membership and education for the film festival, said.
Farias is an aspiring filmmaker and says the festival’s student screening days are helping shape his skills.
“Looking at more films obviously gives me more ideas on what I want to do, how I want to pursue things, just to see if it will give me a better insight on what I want to do,” he said.
Insight that could inspire the next generation in filmmaking.
There will be another student screening day next Monday at Palm Springs High School where two more films will be shown.
