High school filmmakers tackle social trends in documentaries

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Caullen Hudson has noticed a trend at Rock Bridge High School.

Every day, when students socialize before and after classes and during lunch periods, the bench at the front of the main entryway fills up with black teenagers. White teens stand elsewhere.

It's not a coincidence, said Caullen, a junior. It's self-segregation, and it's a national -- and perhaps natural -- phenomenon.

Caullen, who is interested in race relations and filmmaking, has explored his school's segregation patterns in his latest documentary, a 40-minute film he made for his Columbia Area Career Center motion graphics course.

Caullen spent March interviewing students about why they voluntarily separate themselves into groups based on skin color or religious practices. The documentary, "The Elephant in the Classroom," is a combination of historical clips about desegregation and interviews with Rock Bridge students.

Throughout the film, Caullen asks fellow teens to answer pointed questions that tend to make people squirm. Are all blacks loud and obnoxious? Are Hispanics fast and efficient workers? Are Asians bad drivers? Do you ever use the phrase, "I'm not trying to be racist, but"?

Taboo talking points, Caullen admits, but an elephant that needs to be acknowledged.

"They were tough but thought-provoking questions," he said. "Everyone was pretty honest."

Caullen has made several documentaries, but typically he only gets to show them to family members and friends. This year, he'll have a chance to show segments of "The Elephant in the Classroom" to the public Wednesday during the Rock Bridge Film Festival.

Rock Bridge has held a benefit film festival for about eight years. Last year, interest skyrocketed to about 25 entries vying for one of 12 spots in the two-hour program. Organizers this year are still accepting entries and hope to show about 10 films.

Festival co-chairwoman Mallory Van Waarde, a senior, said she thinks the popularity of Columbia's True/False Film Festival has trickled down to high school students. She also credits Rock Bridge teachers for incorporating filmmaking into class projects.

"I wasn't interested in filmmaking until I came to Rock Bridge, but there were a lot of opportunities for me to learn," said Mallory, who is making a documentary for her pop-culture class about society's obsession with bad girls.

"A lot of people in our school are very interested in" filmmaking, she said.

Plus, moviemaking is just a fun pastime that lets teens explore their creative sides, fellow co-chairwoman senior Alex Harrison said.

"There are so many neat people doing so many cool things," she said. "You don't realize how creative people can be."

Sophomore Ben Ogawa, an aspiring filmmaker, didn't have time to enter this year's festival, but he did create a short bumper to add to the event. The film shows students climbing on Rock Bridge's roof, a spoof of the parkour-themed bumpers that played before each screening at this year's True/False Festival.

For Ben, films provide a way to express opinions and show ramifications of political actions. Films are "a huge part of how people get their information and how they're told things these days," he said. "It's a powerful way to convince people."

Caullen isn't necessarily trying to convince his peers that racial segregation still exists; he just wants them to become more comfortable talking about it.

"I hope they think and ask questions and don't make racial relations such a taboo issue," he said. "I want them to not be so uptight and not think of race as such a hard and taboo issue to talk about."