The Liberty’s AP Art class, along with other high schools in the area, recently took a trip to FilmScene at The Chauncey in downtown Iowa City to attend the Refocus Film Festival. Sponsored by the University of Iowa, students were highly encouraged to attend.
Saria Abdalla (she/her), 12, was an attendee of the festival and had a positive first impression.
“There were several short films that they wanted us to preview. They weren’t all created by [University of Iowa] students there but two were,” Abdallah said.
The showings typically last from early in the day to evening/night-time, but the Monograph Shorts 2025 event ran for a total of seventy-nine minutes. Films in the series were presented in English, French, and Dene, falling under the drama, history, and experimental genres. The event was presented by directors Mamadou Yattassaye and Christopher Harris.
Sandrine Frazier (she/her), 12, found the topics covered to be very diverse.
“They spanned a lot of genres and stories, there was a cartoon animation and there was another one about a dog, and a comedy too. Most of them were really experimental, like, indie,” Frazier said.
Students found the trip to be insightful in terms of preparation for the AP Art exam, which consists of creating a portfolio of five main projects and an investigative project surrounding a central theme.
“Part of the AP exam prep process is discovering new ways to make art, like new mediums,” Abdallah said. “It’s a good way to interpret personal faults in an art form that would allow you to express yourself,” Frazier said, featuring a more introspective view on the benefits of the field trip.
Students are looking forward to attending the festival again in years to come.
