With an edgy style, plenty of humor and a good dose of surprises, the new film ‘Inside Montclair High’ was a rousing hit with the audience at the Montclair High School premiere on Tuesday night. About 200 people attended the premiere, including educators, more than 20 realtors, parents, Superintendent of Montclair Schools Dr. Frank Alvarez, business owners, students, and Montclair councilors Cary Africk and Dr. Renee Baskerville.
The Montclair Fund For Educational Excellence (MFEE) and the Montclair Public Schools offered a preview of this 3-part series that truly drew back the curtain to show adults a real-world peak into Montclair High School. MFEE once again showed their importance in the community, by supporting this program along with numerous other grants and programs.
The film follows a few students as they go through a typical day, but also offers a well-rounded and fascinating look into the world of Montclair teenagers as they go about their daily routines in school – which is anything but ordinary.
Directed by Masiel Rodriquez-Vaz and created by some visionary high school kids attending Montclair High School, the films were shot in three segments.
Montclair superintendent of schools Dr. Frank Alvarez introduced the film, and said it had taken 2 years to complete.
“Montclair High School is a very different place than from what I hear on the outside,” he noted. “When I walk into the school I always joke and ask ‘where are all the kids?’. The hallways are empty because the kids in this high school are in their classes being very productive.”
From the very first shots of the students and school, it is obvious that Alvarez has offered a true assessment of these teenagers. As the opening credits and music launched the film, the viewers grew silent and seemed mesmerized by the Alice-in-Wonderland perspective of a large, loud high school as it transformed before their very eyes.
Students in the 9th grade attend their own academy, and on film talk about how their fears about going to a new environment with so many new fellow students soon melt away.
The very bones of this structured program for freshman year work in conjunction with the educators, who are always on the lookout for the youngest grade, often sharing information with one another if a student seems to be falling behind or lost in any manner.
Once inside the ‘big house’, where the sophomores through seniors attend their classes, the film offers a glimpse into a dynamic, colorful, creative yet safe environment for the students.
Smaller programs offer a themed type of education if a student chooses to enroll, or a more open type of 4-year program is also available.
The filmmakers effortlessly segued between concerned parents who admit they have no idea what happens in the large high school and students who stay long after school has ended, engrossed in one of the hundreds of clubs offered to them.
Even the film itself – upbeat, creative, and professional – highlights the top notch education this school offers. From graphics to dentistry, architecture to drumming, athletics to drama, ‘Inside Montclair High’ is a poetic yet straightforward journey along the twisting hallways that students call home as they traverse their personal journey from
childhood to adulthood.
Channel 34 will be showing this film.
Don’t miss it. You will never look at Montclair High School the same way again.
