At ESD’s film festival, AT&T awarded ESD film students a Certificate of Recognition for their commitment to Cyberbullying Awareness through Film and Creative Arts. 

It began with a trip to New York City in early October. ESD was one of only 35 schools nationwide invited to attend the All-American High School AT&T Film Invitational, where they had 55 hours to shoot and edit an 8-minute film that focused on cyberbullying. AT&T and the Tyler Clementi Foundation collaborated on the project in hopes of reducing demeaning and destructive online behavior and encouraging a friendlier digital space. 

Less than two weeks later, the film students of ESD hosted the School’s first-ever Film Festival on Friday, October 21. The event began with traditional red carpet and transitioned into screenings of 20 films, selected from the 65 submissions ESD received from a variety of Dallas-area schools. The evening had two sections of screenings with a presentation by the All American High School Film Festival called The Roadshow, which featured the film that ESD students made at the Invitational in NYC about cyberbullying. 

“In today's ever-increasing digital world, cyberbullying is a tough subject that must be addressed,” said Meredyth Cole, ESD Head of School. “We applaud all of the 2016 AT&T Film Invitational student filmmakers who are taking the lead to focus on this issue and encouraging their peers to speak up and speak out. It is our hope that the collective voices of these young people will have the power to eradicate this insidious and dangerous behavior.”

For more about ESD’s film festival, please click here.

For more information from AT&T about Digital Citizenship, “Handling Haters,” and Digital Parenting resources, please click here.