Documentary nets kids trip of a lifetime

By Kim Moar - The Weekly News
"Ready, set, action" is being heard a lot around Grosvenor Wentworth Park School these days, and for good reason.
Grade 5 students who produced a six-minute documentary on Pier 21 are off to Japan next month as one of six global winners of the Panasonic Kid Witness News program.
Teacher Andrew Stickings said each year his class produces a number of films, including award-winning anti-racism documentaries.
"It's kind of a neat way to learn ... and have a DVD at the end of something big that they've done that they're quite proud of," Stickings said.
For the Panasonic Kid Witness News program, the company supplies the class with a high-definition camera, and a computer for editing.
"In exchange, we provide them with a minimum of two videos a year," he said.
Stickings said the class decided to do Pier 21 this year as one of its films to learn more about immigration. They also produced a racism video, and one on energy conservation.
Of the 13 awards handed out through the program this year, Grosvenor Wentworth picked up 10 of them, including best film overall for Pier 21 Gateway of Hope. It also finished in the Top 6 of all films submitted from schools across the world.
"That's awesome, I couldn't believe it," he said. "They've seen something in that video that's worthy of the highest honour they give."
Stickings and two of his Grade 5 students, Amanda Wentzell, 11, who produced the film, and director Alison Horton, 11, along with their moms, will attend an awards ceremony in Tokyo next month paid for by Panasonic.
"It's pretty amazing," said Wentzell, who narrates the Pier 21 story.
Wentzell, who is already eyeing a career in broadcasting, said the four-month-long project was a lot of work, but worth it.
"We thought Pier 21 would go far ... because it was one of our best films, but I was pretty surprised to hear we were going to Japan," Wentzell said.
Both Wentzell and Horton said making the film has given them a better understanding of what people go through who are immigrating to Canada.
"I wasn't really interested in immigration until we started learning about," Horton said.
Putting the Pier 21 documentary together was a collaborative effort, and involved a number of partners to pull it off.
Stickings said first off they needed a boat to shoot the pier from the water, and the Canadian Navy stepped up to the plate and offered to take them out in a tugboat, as did the tugboat company, Ectug.
But the class also wanted to demonstrate how most people immigrate to Canada now, and needed an airline to come on board.
With a nod from WestJet, students were also able to film the immigration process with classmates acting as immigrants arriving by plane, and going through customs.
"So everything fell into place to make for a great story," Stickings said.
Films submitted from students in Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia and the U.K. are also being recognized in Tokyo next month.
To watch Pier 21 Gateway of Hope and the other finalists go to http://panasonic.net/kwn/cgi-bin/kwn/webvote2010/index.cgi?a=1277212586484

kmoar@hfxnews.ca