To plot a sustainable future, it helps to know your past.
That’s the big picture in The Classics Academy, and Ben Donnellon had to repeat his senior year in high school to see it.
Which is a challenge at 27.
Okay, Ben didn’t re-do the whole year at Morristown High for his entry in the 2011 MorristownGreen.com Film & Music Festival.
But he spent many hours observing and interviewing teachers and students in a pilot project that immersed nine seniors in classes about ancient Greece and Rome.
On a micro level, the first thing that struck Ben was the absence of books.
Students in the Classics Academy received iPads, saving lots of trees. Instructors recorded lectures as podcasts. Everyone listened at home, and then dissected the lessons together.
“The students were leading the discussions,” said Ben, an MHS grad who studied cinematic photography at Ithaca College. His movie production credits include Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead and Crazy Love.
His MG Film Fest entry amounts to video CliffsNotes for a longer documentary he plans to enter in a PBS contest.
If you like Ben’s work, don’t stop after giving The Classics Academy your vote for Best Picture on Aug. 27.
Make his career sustainable by tossing him a few bucks on KickStarter.com for The Reiss Disorder, a dark comedy he plans to film in town. It’s all-or-nothing; he needs to hit his $8,000 target by Aug. 31 to get the project off the ground.
And then maybe we will be voting for that one in next year’s MG Film Fest.
READ MORE ABOUT THE MG FILM & MUSIC FEST
This year’s festival is part of a free, daylong Green on the Green expo held – where else? – on the Morristown Green, on Saturday, Aug. 27. MorristownGreen.com is partnering with Sustainable Morristown and sponsors BASF and Covanta Energy to showcase local entrepreneurs and musical performances all afternoon, followed by the Fourth Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest in the evening. Spectators will vote for Best Picture, and prizes will be awarded. We expect a large crowd from Greater Morristown will be joined by visitors to the Gran Fondo NJ, a new bicycling event.
