By Adam Casadevall
Is the glass half empty or half full?
Abigail Semple, a rising sophomore at Morristown High School, explores the question in Passing Time, her entry in the Sixth Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Festival on Aug. 24, 2013.
This year’s theme is Short Documentaries, and Semple will be competing against area filmmakers of all ages for prizes in three categories: People’s Choice, as voted by audience members; Critics Choice, as chosen by a panel of film experts; and Diversity, as selected by members of the Morris County Building Cross Cultural Communities Committee.
Showtime is 6 pm at the Hyatt Morristown, with music by the SteppingSTONE Band. Admission is free; bring a lawn chair or beach towel for an indoor beach party.
TIME CAPSULE
Utilizing time-lapse footage of London and photographs from the Humans Of New York project, Semple has sought to illustrate a premise from one of her favorite shows, Doctor Who: “The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things.”
She edited the impressionistic documentary by herself, as a project for teacher John Madden’s English class. Madden put the video in a time capsule in hopes that one day, another civilization may stumble upon it.
Do individuals still have a place in a world where privacy is under siege, and every niche and underground group is being appropriated to benefit consumer and corporate interests? Semple says her documentary is about perceptions.
“Life is a bowl of cherries, life is a bowl of pits,” she says.
Movies have fascinated Semple for as long as she can remember, and already she is planning to pursue film when she goes to college.
“Hopefully I’ll go west and do the whole California thing, or I’d like to study abroad in England,” she says.
“You can’t write books unless you read books, and you can’t make films unless you watch films,” Semple states. “I always knew I wanted to do film. It’s really where I like being.”
MG correspondent Adam Casadevall, a Morristown High School alumnus, graduated recently from Rutgers with a degree in journalism and media studies.
MORE ABOUT THE 2013 MORRISTOWNGREEN.COM FILM FESTIVAL
And while you’re marking your calendar, don’t forget to check Aug. 17, when the third annual Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival brings a star-studded lineup to the Morristown Green.
