On Wednesday, May 24th 2023 award winning director Rita Leistner visited the ongoing filmmaking workshop that Green Planet Films is offering to the participants of the Maritime Adventure Program at the Mystic Seaport Museum. Rita had the chance to share a bit about her journey in photography and documentary film, discuss the making of her documentary feature Forest for the Trees, as well as join in the workshopping of some student films.
This was week 10 of our 11 week workshop. Maritime Adventure Program students have been studying the basic principles of documentary filmmaking and putting them into practice. Student film topics selected by the students include maritime history, close looks at individual ships including the Morgan and the Fireboat, and the ecology and history of the Mystic River.
Shooting and editing on their own iPads, each filmmaker conducted an interview with an expert in their chosen topic and shaped that interview into a short documentary piece by adding still images, music, text, graphics and other b-roll footage. There is a lot of talent in this group! Thanks to Rita for supporting these first-time student filmmakers!