This letter was originally sent to students at Whistler Secondary School, and shared with Pique.
Dear Jayden, Sho, Kenta, John Hall and Shauna Hardy, i.e., the wonderful committee that put together the Sea to Sky Student Film Festival.
I am the mother of Isa Guerrero, who as you know, took away the first prize at your inaugural film fest. I want to thank you, beyond these words, for the extraordinary effort that you put into making it all happen—giving students like Isa the opportunity to share their cinematic passions with their peers and the larger Sea to Sky community.
I cannot tell you how impressed we all were with your fabulous event. From beginning to end, your festival was professional in every sense of the word! I, and many others, can assure you that every hour that you put into making the film festival happen was appreciated by all of us in attendance.
It is astonishing to think that the brains behind the event were young high school students. You guys set the best of examples for humanity, especially to us older folk. I am confident that next year’s event will be as successful and the number of entries will be at least three times it was this year—and this is all because of the hard work that you carried out, and the legacy that you have now left within the school.
I told Isa, the moment that he found out that his film was selected to be screened, that the greatest honour was not taking a prize home, but rather showing his film to a larger audience.
What, I said to him, could be any better for a filmmaker, than to have his/her short film shown on the big screen?
Isa has been playing movies in his mind for as long as I can remember, and from an early age, he would often walk slowly behind his parents and brother so that he could “act out” a scene from a movie he was envisioning. He was caught watching movies that he was too young for on airplanes (i.e. The Shining), much to the alarm of his primary grade teachers after the terror of that film seeped into his homeroom class.
I don’t know if I can take any credit for Isa’s win because it was absolutely a solo endeavour, but if I can have just a little bit of recognition, it would be that I’ve only ever encouraged my sons to be creative. I’ve always said to them that the greatest school is not the one that exists within an institution’s boundaries, but rather, the “life school” that exists after-hours, at home or on vacation. I think Isa’s film, shot entirely in our home, reflects this. How Isa came up with such a strange plot line will be anyone’s guess. But the film captures, I believe, what young people do best when they use their free time to be creative.
I want to thank you for the tremendous work and dedication to this project, and giving my son one of the greatest moments of his life. Not a bad feat, for a young boy, who came into this world, extremely premature, weighing no more than a pound and a half. Who would know that he would grow into such a fine artistic young man.
My very best to all of you and especially to the graduating class of 2023. You guys have a very bright future ahead of you.
