A group of 7th graders in Philadelphia were honored for making a short film about the city’s gayborhood.
According to Philadelphia Gay News, three students recently presented their award-winning documentary at the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia. The film depicts Philadelphia’s contributions to LGBTQ rights such as the Dewey’s Lunch Counter sit-in.
“We noticed that almost all of the LGBTQ history documentaries were about Stonewall and because we have such a prevalent Gayborhood in Philadelphia, [we thought] it would be more interesting and more relevant to us,” said co-creator Finn Giddings.
Middle school students Giddings, Tahsin Zaman, and Colin Bowerman created their “The Gayborhood” film with the help of the Penn Alexander School’s WHYY Media Labs program. The program is built on teaching students several skills like video production, STEM, and more.
Not only did the students create the film and screen it at the William Way LGBT Community Center, but they also submitted it for several opportunities. This includes the Group Documentary category of the Philadelphia chapter’s National History Day competition where they won honorable mention. They also submitted to the WHYY Youth Media Awards. On the latter contest, the students earned third place in the Middle School Documentary category.
If you wish to view the celebrated five minute film, you can watch it down below.
