2008 Woodie Awards
Towns' gaps fuel film
Jessica Lander
Issue date: 2/8/07 Section: News
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A recent documentary chronicling the lives of high school students in two racially and economically divided towns has captured the attention of an Emerson freshman who hopes to help create a nationally recognized film.
Five seniors from two high schools in the towns of Andover and Lawrence, Massachusetts were provided with video cameras last school year and for over a month, they recorded more than 55 hours of footage documenting their lives at school, at home and with friends according to Rich Farrell, the head of the film program at Andover High School.
Farrell, who started Andover High School's film program four years ago, got the idea to do a documentary from a previous experience working for HBO's "America Undercover," where high school seniors in Minnesota documented their lives.
When he moved to Andover to teach, he took the idea with him.
Now, over a year after Farrell and his students began working on the project, the film is in its final stages of production, and Farrell has called in some help from an Emerson student.
Freshman film major Dan Sarno, who graduated from Andover last year, has offered to help Farrell, who he says was an inspiration during his years at Andover High.
"I have a long history with Rich Farrell," Sarno said. "He was a good mentor."
Sarno, who grew up in Andover, took a special interest in the film; the issues addressed are all too familiar to him.
After looking through the footage, Sarno felt that there was definitely the potential for creating an interesting film on the subject.
"A lot of the footage was stuff that we didn't expect to find," he said.
The documentary does not merely focus on the lives of typical high school students, but digs deeper into the underlying prejudices between the two schools.
Andover and Lawrence are neighboring towns divided not only by the Merrimack River, but by wide disparities of income and racial makeup.
While Andover is affluent and predominantly white, Lawrence is poorer and largely Latino. Due to the dichotomy, Farrell reports that high school students in Andover have developed prejudices against Lawrence and vice versa.
Five seniors from two high schools in the towns of Andover and Lawrence, Massachusetts were provided with video cameras last school year and for over a month, they recorded more than 55 hours of footage documenting their lives at school, at home and with friends according to Rich Farrell, the head of the film program at Andover High School.
Farrell, who started Andover High School's film program four years ago, got the idea to do a documentary from a previous experience working for HBO's "America Undercover," where high school seniors in Minnesota documented their lives.
When he moved to Andover to teach, he took the idea with him.
Now, over a year after Farrell and his students began working on the project, the film is in its final stages of production, and Farrell has called in some help from an Emerson student.
Freshman film major Dan Sarno, who graduated from Andover last year, has offered to help Farrell, who he says was an inspiration during his years at Andover High.
"I have a long history with Rich Farrell," Sarno said. "He was a good mentor."
Sarno, who grew up in Andover, took a special interest in the film; the issues addressed are all too familiar to him.
After looking through the footage, Sarno felt that there was definitely the potential for creating an interesting film on the subject.
"A lot of the footage was stuff that we didn't expect to find," he said.
The documentary does not merely focus on the lives of typical high school students, but digs deeper into the underlying prejudices between the two schools.
Andover and Lawrence are neighboring towns divided not only by the Merrimack River, but by wide disparities of income and racial makeup.
While Andover is affluent and predominantly white, Lawrence is poorer and largely Latino. Due to the dichotomy, Farrell reports that high school students in Andover have developed prejudices against Lawrence and vice versa.
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