Collingswood Students' Work Part Of Garden State Film Festival

COLLINGSWOOD, NJ — Two current Collingswood High School students are having their films shown at the 20th Annual Garden State Film Festival this week.

Although both films reveal how COVID-19 impacted the borough, the approaches to each film are different, the filmmakers told Patch.

Josiah Angher said his film that is in the festival, "No One Said It Would Be Easy," presents highlights from COVID-19 related conversations he had with people from multiple generations and professions.

"I interviewed people from all different generations — my little sister, my father and my grandparents. I also looked at how COVID has affected education, and so I interviewed some teachers and the superintendent," he said in an interview.

"Then at the end, I tried to bring it together by [showing] some positives from the pandemic are, how students can cope with it and the good things that are coming out of it," Angher continued.

Dakota Williams' described his film — "Resilient" — as a look at the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including "how it changed the way the businesses operate, how it changed their interaction with the community and the customers, but then also, how they responded to keep afloat," he said.

The enormity of the COVID-19 pandemic made it an easy pick for the focus of his film, according to Angher.

"It is important to encapsulate that moment in time because it was a major event," he said. "This pandemic has deeply shaken people and will continue to affect people for a time to come."

Williams agreed, and added he also felt it was important to highlight the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on smaller towns as well.

"Some people forget that there are businesses in small towns like ours that struggle and that people can lose their jobs and the businesses that they worked so hard for."

The in-person Garden State Film Festival started March 23 and runs through March 27 in Cranford and Asbury Park, and then there is a week of online access from March 28 through April 3. More information about the festival can be found on the event's website.

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