Friday Harbor Film Festival’s 2022 BEST OF THE FEST offers Zero Gravity, an audience-choice favorite feature film about an exciting student space project, as well as four popular student films, on demand on the website, www.fhff.org. Tickets are available online. This week’s feature film costs only $2.95 and student films are free to watch all week.
THIS WEEK’S FEATURE FILM
Zero Gravity + Q&A (Thomas Verrette), sponsored by Café Demeter, Explorers & Adventures Feature Film Award winner.
Zero Gravity follows a diverse group of middle-school students who compete in a nationwide Zero Robotics competition to code satellites aboard the International Space Station. This powerful, inspirational story about education, science, and the next generation follows first-time teacher Tanner Marcoida as he prepares his middle-school students for future jobs. Their mission is to program free-flying satellites aboard the International Space Station called SPHERES. As their team grows from amateur coders to confident engineers, they reflect on their hopes, dreams, cultures, and creeds, and forge their paths to compete in the ISS Finals Tournament — the culmination of a summer-long adventure that sees their incredible accomplishment performed by astronauts in orbit.
THIS WEEK’S SHORTS - FOCUS ON STUDENT FILMS
The Living Sea (Ema Poposka), Student Film Award for Ages 13-17 winner: 12-year-old scuba diver Ema sets on a quest to find out why corals around the globe are dying but somehow in Hong Kong they are more resilient. She believes if people could see the beauty of the ocean and of the corals, they will change their minds about sea protection.
Out of Mind (Angelica Rosario), Student Film Award for Ages 18-26 winner: Hunter struggles coping with the death of a loved one.
Nisqually Moving Forward (Caleb Jacobson): On May 5, 2014, Nisqually Tribal leader Billy Frank Jr., one of the greatest leaders in Pacific Northwest history, passed away after a lifetime of fighting for Tribal fishing and land rights. Today his son Willie Frank III, recently elected as Nisqually Tribal Chairman and one of the youngest leaders in his Tribe's history, continues these efforts.
Sea Beyond the Glitz (Anna Maité Kaplan): On the East End of Long Island, a tenacious group of fishermen struggle to preserve a centuries-old way of life.