Marlborough’s film classes were redirected with the new Movies at Marlborough film festival on May 16. With the exceeding amount of successful films and the number of classes at the school, Visual Arts Instructor Jena English and the School made the executive decision to extend the usual presentation of films to an after-school
event.

The film festival highlighted the plethora of student-created films that were cultivated during the year, and further demonstrate the amount of work that the film students were able to complete. The event also contained works from animation and graphic design students. In order to produce the films and have them shown at the event, the students spent time creating their ideas, filming them, planning, producing and ultimately, editing the films until their vision came to light.

“Making a film is a very difficult but rewarding experience,” film student Maya Napoli-Grover ’25 said. “So much communication and understanding between different members of the team, from actors to boom opera-
tors, is needed.”

The showcase additionally prepared students for more experience in the film industry by giving the students in advanced and senior classes the authority to plan the event.

Napoli-Grover took on larger role with film production by working on her own film and aiding English in cultivating the event. She views filmmaking as a pathway to express creativity, and she finds that the process is extremely fulfilling for all members of the production, which is why the event was crucial to sharing the achievements of the film community.

“The most rewarding part of film is the ability to make a vision become a reality and communicate a feeling or idea to the audience,” Napoli-Grover said.

Movies at Marlborough hopes to become a well-known tradition to honor the film students at Marlborough in the most fun way possible. Although the event was new this year, English hopes that the future of the event will eventually expand to include awards for the students.

“We are looking towards expanding the program to include awards,” English said. “We hope to amplify awareness surrounding the film festival and eventually get a bigger space for the exhibition in the future.”