A documentary created by a group of northern Illinois students will showcase at the Beloit International Film Festival this weekend.
The documentary is about five Rockford area veterans: Melody Brocato, Stephanie Jordan, Milana Herman, Melissa Beckford, and Erin Dietrich.
“Take Your Own Notes” was created by students and teachers at Harlem high school in Machesney Park, Illinois and a part of the Harlem Veteran Project.
Madeline Burke is a former Harlem high school student and a director of the film. She said this premiere is different from ones that were showcased in the past.
“It focuses on women, whereas before there was a larger focus, just naturally coming out of the nature of the service that there was a larger presentation of men. And so, we thought it was really important this doc specifically, to highlight those stories that women have from being in the service.”
Kyra Newnam is a teacher at the school. She works with students of the project. She said the timing of the “Take Your Own Notes” premiere is significant because March is Women’s History Month.
“When we originally started to look at this, are the original idea came out of like, discussions about the 100th anniversary of the women's right to vote, the amendment giving women the right to vote. So, um, no, I think that's really fitting. And awesome.”
Newman said a story told by Brocato about being a woman at a meeting inspired the name of the film.
“They're at the meeting and it kind of looked at her and was like, well, you can take the notes. And basically, her response was like, I'm going to take the notes, you take the notes.”
The documentary premieres at 5 p.m. Saturday March 4 at La Casa Grande and again at noon Sunday March 5 at the Hendricks Art Center. More information about the women can be found at beloitfilmfest.org.
A documentary created by a group of northern Illinois students will showcase at the Beloit International Film Festival this weekend.
The documentary is about five Rockford area veterans: Melody Brocato, Stephanie Jordan, Milana Herman, Melissa Beckford, and Erin Dietrich.
“Take Your Own Notes” was created by students and teachers at Harlem high school in Manchesney Park, Illinois and a part of the Harlem Veteran Project.
Madeline Burke is a former Harlem high school student and a director of the film. She said this premiere is different from ones that were showcased in the past.
“It focuses on women, whereas before there was a larger focus, just naturally coming out of the nature of the service that there was a larger presentation of men," Burke said. "And so, we thought it was really important this doc specifically, to highlight those stories that women have from being in the service.”
Kyra Newnam is a teacher at the school. She works with students of the project. She said the timing of the “Take Your Own Notes” premiere is significant because March is Women’s History Month.
“When we originally started to look at this," she explained, "our original idea came out of like, discussions about the 100th anniversary of the women's right to vote, the amendment giving women the right to vote. So, um, no, I think that's really fitting. And awesome.”
Newman said a story told by Brocato about being a woman at a meeting inspired the name of the film.
“They're at the meeting and it kind of looked at her and was like, 'well, you can take the notes,'" Newman said. "And basically, her response was like, I'm not taking the notes, you take the notes.”
The documentary premieres at 5 p.m. Saturday March 4 at La Casa Grande and shows again at noon Sunday March 5 at the Hendricks Art Center. More information about the women can be found at beloitfilmfest.org.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
