Student Documentarians Premiere at Film Festival

A big congratulations are in order to two groups of Parker students who were selected to show their documentaries at the Illinois Film Festival.

“To the Grave: Segregation in Chicago Cemeteries” by Chase Wayland ’26, Ava Farhat ’26, and Wesley Knights ’26 and “Chicago’s Teen Takeovers: From Social Media to the Streets” by Izzy Sager ’26, Alex Sarnoff ’26, and Ella Goodman ’26 were the films these students brought to life in their Creating Historical Documentaries course. In this class, teachers Travis Chandler and Dan Greenstone lead students through a close analysis of important historical documentaries to help them recognize qualities of exceptional films. Students combine this new visual knowledge with writing, research, and storytelling techniques and direct involvement with all aspects of pre-production, shooting, lighting, interviewing, editing, and more to create professional-quality videos.

Parker is very excited to announce that the Illinois Film Festival awarded “To the Grave: Segregation in Chicago Cemeteries” the Best Documentary Tier I award! The school is very proud of all the students who participated in this class and happy to see their work recognized at such a prestigious event.

Join Parker in congratulating these students! Enjoy both of these films below, and click here to watch all the documentaries from this course throughout the years.