Last year (2019) was our best ever result at the Shanghai International Student Film Festival, winning two categories and claiming two second-place, a third-place and a special jury award. The results are in for the 2020 festival, and we are proud to announce that we have eclipsed 2019’s haul, improving by over 300 per cent!
Although we have won at least one first-place position for the last four years, going from our best of two first placed films last year to seven this year shows an amazing improvement in the use of media and technology across the whole school.
Simon JACKSON, Senior School DP Film, English and Drama Teacher
The festival is in its 14th year and attracts hundreds of entries from around the world. This is the second year running SSIS has entered films—and won awards —in all age groups (Preschool, Primary and Senior School), and the first time we have won first place in a Senior School category:
1st Place Best Primary School Drama
‘The Lorax Shadow Puppet Show’
K1 Tristan CROSSLEY
1st Place Best Middle School Animation & Video Art
‘Staying Home’
G8 Joon GUZMAN
1st Place Best Middle School Documentary/PSA
‘Man Up’
G8 Jade RAMPTON, Esther LEE, JIA Min Mah, Gretel PHOON, Sofia ROSLEE
1st Place Best Middle School Drama
‘Dreams’
G8 Rishi CHAUDHARI
1st Place Best Middle School Comedy
‘Bloody Lino’
G8 Anita SHAO, Sara WOON and Catherine LIM
1st Place Best Middle School Comedy
‘Late Rush’
G8 Anika SUWAKUMAR, Grace KIM, Vladislav RIABOLOV and Dana KIM
1st Place Best High School Action & Sci-Fi
‘Outplayed’
G12 Ethan CHAN, Xiyona GOSAIN and Victoria CHEAH
3rd Place Best Middle School Thriller and Horror
‘Laughing Stock’
G7 Ranya BILJANI, Tanvi RAO and Anindita TRIPATHI
Special Jury Prize High School Drama
‘Brandon’
G11 Joseph LIU
Highly Commended Middle School Documentary/PSA
‘The Black Death’
G6 Yasitha BUYYANA
For many students, the Grade 8 Slapstick and Film unit is their favourite of the year. Students have to devise their own story based on a slapstick formula. As a group, they assign roles they are most interested in. They had two lessons to storyboard and then had one lesson to film and one lesson to edit. Not every student loves the spotlight, so it was a great opportunity for students who enjoy directing, cinematography or editing to shine. Some students really showed creativity in their use of shots and angles like in the Bloody Lino, while the message behind Man Up was quite poignant. Congratulations to all the winners this year!
Rebecca WEISZ
Senior School Drama and English Teacher
Every year our IB Film teacher, Mr JACKSON, chooses the best films made across the school and enters them for the Shanghai International Student Film Festival. The rate of our improvement is a credit to SSIS’s focus on technology, with the new STEAM lab, SSIS TV and IB Film programme creating new opportunities and expertise across the school. It is also an immense credit to our teachers, as this year, we entered films from the Primary Art and History departments, and Senior Drama, Science, Art, Film and cross-curricular projects. Ms Rebecca WEISZ, in particular, led and mentored the majority of the Senior School winners through their unique film projects.
Well done to all the creative students, the teachers who inspired and enabled them, and the investment that has produced the technology and inspiration to allow such a showing.
Congratulations students and teachers, we’re so proud of your achievements!
Get to know about SSIS aesthetics programme here!
