By Adam Casadevall
Conveying a message about cultural diversity in a video under five minutes is a difficult task, but it’s one that Fiona Mullen and Martha Sohn were more than willing to take head on.
Both will be juniors at Morristown High School, and their submission to Saturday’s Sixth Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Festival is titled 4000 Miles.
This year’s Festival theme is Short Documentaries, and Fiona and Martha are competing for prizes in three categories: People’s Choice (audience vote), Critics’ Choice and Diversity.
The show starts at 6 pm on Aug. 24, 2013, in the Hyatt Morristown, and includes music by the SteppingSTONE band. Admission is free. Bring a lawn chair or beach blanket; it’s an indoor beach party.
The girls’ documentary follows Martha, who, until 2011, lived in Germany. She narrates most of the film, but her face is barely seen.
“We wanted it to be mysterious,” said Fiona. The film began as a project for a photography class taught by Brian Kievning.
The Sixth Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Festival
Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013
Hyatt Morristown, 6 pm
Admission: Free. Live music: SteppingSTONE Band
Home-grown short documentaries; vote for your favorite!
Bring lawn chair / beach blanket for indoor beach party
“Leaving Germany meant leaving my home, my entire family except my parents, and leaving my friends,” Martha says in 4000 Miles.
Her struggles to adapt–while hanging onto the cultural mores that shaped her identity–form the core of the story.
Martha is back in her native country, 4,000 miles away, for the summer. So her co-director will represent them at the Film Fest.
Fiona is keen on photography, which shows in the film’s asthetics. She says she finds Martha’s saga inspiring, and perhaps universal, symbolizing everyone’s struggle to fit in.
MG correspondent Adam Casadevall, a Morristown High School alumnus, graduated recently from Rutgers with a degree in journalism and media studies.
Beautifully done Fiona! Congratulations to you and Martha!