Discover Delmarva Arts: Ocean City Film Festival

OCEAN CITY, Md. — At the 10th annual Ocean City Film Festival, the spotlight wasn’t just on professional filmmakers — This year, a special showcase highlights the next generation of storytellers — high school students from across Maryland learning how to lead, collaborate, and bring creative visions to life.

Sydney Sharp, a junior at Baltimore School of the Arts, says making her film, The Schools That Fish Live In, with 15 of her peers showed her what it takes to lead as a director — from the exciting moments to the challenges behind the scenes. “It was a great honor to really hone my leadership skills. As a director, if anything goes wrong, it’s kind of your fault. So, I kind of liked having the opportunity to stick up for my peers if something went wrong.”

She says that when everyone is learning together, it makes the experience that much more valuable. “I knew at the end of the day that vulnerability was really the most important thing. And trust, trust is so important, because I’m still learning, and it was my first time really directing, and it was my peers first time being on audio, or cinematography, or editing, and it was the actors first time having a big camera in their face. So, at the end of the day, we were all learning.”

Student director Leon Banks said the experience helped her learn more about the kind of director she hopes to be in the future. “I learned a lot about collaboration. Sometimes, people do a lot better when you just let them do the job they’re given and be how they are naturally, and your films turn out so much more natural when you do it that way.”

Students like Taylor Brown said their experiences outside the classroom helped shape the way they worked on set. “Applying what I learned from being a team player into my film sets and working with my crew to have a great, positive environment. That’s really important for me.”