2021 BCPS Film Expo Airs Thursday, Features Student Works

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Enjoy a free evening of moviewatching from your own home Thursday at 9 p.m. The 2021 BCPS Film Expo will show a juried selection of student films on BCPS-TV (Comcast Xfinity channel 73 and Verizon FiOS channel 34) and via livestream. During the event, category winners will be announced and winning films will be shown along with commentary from expo judges.

This year’s film expo, the fifth annual Baltimore County Public Schools student film competition, attracted 136 film entries from 12 middle schools and 12 high schools, including first-time submissions from seven schools.

“This year, new categories were added both to encourage participation from a wider field of BCPS video producers but also to celebrate the types of video our students and colleagues were making that didn’t clearly fall into one of the existing categories,” expo committee co-chair Brandon Nicklas, a visual arts teacher at Lansdowne High, said. “The addition of short-form video category was to encourage some of our creative BCPS students who are making videos for popular social media apps to share their work. We also wanted to honor the teachers and staff who have taken on the virtual world with gusto. So many teachers, administrators and staff have been making demonstration and promotional videos to support their academic programs. We hoped to inspire some to make new and better video with a little competition and an award."

The Film Expo was launched in 2016 when a group of motivated teachers across content areas joined forces with The Education Foundation of BCPS, Inc., the Office of Visual Arts and Office of Career and Technical Education.

“I applaud the expo organizers for creating this opportunity for students to be creative, collaborative and competitive,” BCPS Superintendent Dr. Darryl L. Williams said. “In making films, our students demonstrate what they have learned and share what they think and imagine. These films are both artistic expressions and technical achievements.”