film – AHS NEWSPAPER

World Language Week Brings Global Films to AHS Students

May 6, 2025

Arshiaa Prem || STAFF WRITER

Each year, the World Language Department hosts World Language Week, an event celebrating different languages and cultures. As part of this tradition, students watch a carefully selected international film to experience storytelling from around the world. This year’s choice, The Door Into Summer, is a Japanese film chosen to reflect student interest in anime, manga, and Japan, especially following a school trip to Japan in February.

The department selects films in languages not taught at school, helping students hear a new language and observe how foreign films differ from American productions. According to AHS foreign language program advisor Peter Hall, who is involved in the selection process, past films shown include CODA, about a family that used American Sign Language to communicate, Dangal, an Indian movie about wrestling, and last year’s German film, The Teacher’s Lounge, which received mixed reactions but led to interesting discussions.

“The movie lets students hear another language and see how international films often have less predictable endings than American films,” said Hall.

According to Hall, the selection process considers multiple factors, including school appropriateness, cultural representation, discussion topics, and ratings from sites like Rotten Tomatoes and the Academy Awards. The department aims to choose movies students have not already seen, which is why student input has not been part of the process before—but it may be considered in the future.

Hall noted that The Door Into Summer was chosen because of its modern themes like robotics and artificial intelligence, which match student interests.

Freshman Mo Gearin said it “felt like a fever dream,” while Freshman Aarna Shah called it “fun and interesting to watch” and noticed its unique filming style. “It had a lot more transitions than what I’m used to,” she said.

Sophomore Arnav Chandrasekhar thought the plot twists were exciting and said the movie helped him learn more about Japanese culture. “I noticed there was like a blueish, mellow filter on the movie,” he said. “That was my favorite part of watching it.” Chandrasekhar also added, “I think this year’s movie was better than the German one last year.”

Freshman Reut Cohen-Yashar added that watching a foreign film showed her “how different movies can be in different cultures.”

Students have responded well to the event in the past, though opinions on each film vary. “Some movies are more popular than others,” Hall said. “Last year’s German film wasn’t a favorite, but it got students thinking about new topics.”

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Drama Guild Hosts METG High School Festival Semi-Finals

May 6, 2025

Christina Saad || STAFF WRITER

Andover High School’s drama guild hosted and performed at the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild (METG) High School Drama Festival Semi-Finals Round on March 14.

The METG Drama Festival is a three-round theater competition in which high schools from across Massachusetts must put together a 40-minute play. Each play is one act and is produced by members of a competing high school.

The drama guild spent many weeks producing and connecting the various elements of their play, and ended up making it all the way to semi-finals. They focused consistently on creating a balance between their play’s acting and technical elements.

This year, AHS’s drama guild performed their own version of “The Actor’s Nightmare,” written by Christopher Durang. The play revolves around an accountant who is inexplicably thrust into the world of acting. He must perform roles that he does not know the lines for, and is often forced to improvise along the way.

“You show up on stage, and you have no recollection of why you’re there, or what you’re doing, or what your lines are,” said senior and actor Carmina Merrill.

The play ends in a way that leaves the audience wondering whether this “nightmare” was real life, or if it was all a dream.

“I’d like to think it was real life, even though it has this very dream-like quality to it—very nightmarish,” said Merrill.

The actors and tech crew reflected on their performance after the semi-finals. Other than a few small areas for improvement, they thought they performed well.

“I was happy with the performance we put up…” Merrill said. “Drama Festival is tough because only two plays move up out of the six that come to our site.”

The group worked hard in the time between preliminaries and semi-finals, taking judges’ criticisms to heart during rehearsals. They worked on refining sets and diving further into character roles and acting choices.

“You could have a really beautiful set, but the lighting is not as beautiful or as well executed,” said Theater Arts Director Susan Choquette. “You could have a really beautiful set, but maybe the acting values aren’t as strong.”

First and foremost, the judges look for harmony between all elements of the play. They want the technical elements and acting values to be performed at the same level.

“They’re looking for all of the puzzle pieces to fit together, and that they’re executed at a very high level,” Choquette said.

When producing a play, the actors and tech crew first spend a lot of time understanding the story and characters of the play. Since they were recreating an original play, the team spent multiple rehearsals analyzing the script and understanding its thematic values before beginning production.

Once they understood the play, they started planning how the actors would move on stage during specific scenes and constructed sets that were both appealing and efficient. They worked on the scenes one by one and later put everything together.

“We have a [tech crew] that works in the shop almost every day in the weeks leading up to the [performance],” said senior and actor Kai Cruz.

The crew worked on building the sets and painting the completed pieces, starting with the largest sets first. They pre-programmed most of the lighting cues in the show, excluding the spotlight put on the lead actor, which was done manually. In addition to the sets and lighting, they also had sound designers and a running crew who aided in scene transitions.

“All these technical elements worked together to produce a great show, and being in the position to call the show was a great experience,” said junior and stage manager Evan Leary.

In addition to the 40-minute time limit of the play, the tech crew and cast were also expected to arrange all of their sets onstage prior to the performance within a 5-minute time limit.

“Our tech crew has to make sure that they’re able to build a set that is not only visually appealing, but able to be executed technically,” said Cruz.

Failing to meet the time requirement is grounds for disqualification, so efficiency must be prioritized. Leary was in charge of organizing the five-minute set up and assigning jobs for the crew.

“I would say that the five-minute setup and overall organization was the most difficult part for me, but it was still very enjoyable, and I had a great time running it,” said Leary.

Drama Festival members also expressed that they specifically enjoy hosting competitions. They find it a unique opportunity to meet and get to know people from other high schools, and it is a great day of theater in general.

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Award Adjustments: Who Deserved the 2025 Oscar Awards?

March 17, 2025

Luka Oatman || STAFF WRITER

Since Oscar season has passed, it is time to look back and admire some of the best cinematic productions from this past year. Though the nominated films each have their own strengths, only a few emerged victorious, boasting highly sought-after awards to recognize their excellence. Of the winners for the 23 categories, I disagreed with several. Here are my top picks from this year’s selection.

Best picture: I am firmly convinced that The Substance should have received this year’s award for best picture. The cast of this film was not only convincing in their individual roles but worked together flawlessly. The actors harbored a strong sense of togetherness, and their connections felt authentic. Furthermore, The Substance’s camera crew challenged themselves with unique, difficult shots. The viewer frequently sees through the eyes of the leading roles, including views of actors through mirrors. The camera work for these scenes was thoroughly impressive and added to the overall intricacy of the movie. In terms of writing, The Substance tackled difficult themes, challenging the concept of unattainable beauty through satire. Through this outlandish, dramatic story, the film’s writers made an indirect commentary on the impossible definition of beauty in Hollywood, and did so seamlessly. This movie was perfect in nearly every aspect and, in my opinion, was deserving of best picture.

Performance by an actor in a leading role: In Sing Sing, Colman Domingo created a complex character, Divine G. I believe that Domingo deserved the Oscar for Best Leading Actor for his astounding performance of optimism. Throughout the film we see Domingo maintain a consistently well developed character as he navigates through the endeavors of a small group of inmates producing plays. I found it amazing to see how Divine G finds a sense of self through the group of players, and it is easy to appreciate the effort and dedication to the role that was made by Domingo. His choices within the character are clearly thoughtful and purposeful, making it clear to me that he should possess this award.

Performance by an actress in a leading role: Although each of the nominees for this category performed wonderfully in their own aspects, one actress was truly outstanding in comparison to the rest. Demi Moore was incredible as Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance, showcasing a true comprehension of the character’s emotional conflicts. As the film progresses, it remains evident that Moore put a lot of effort into understanding how her character would react to each of the difficulties she is faced with. It truly felt as though she were deeply connected with the role throughout the movie, which is a difficult feat to accomplish, especially while handling a display of such emotional maturity as her role required. While I watched The Substance, I never doubted the authenticity of Moore’s performance as she embodied the dismay of her character, growing steadily more tired and losing sanity, up until the very last moment of the film. Her performance as Elisabeth Sparkle was spectacular, and she is beyond deserving of this award.

Cinematography: Of the nominated movies for the Best Cinematography award, Emilia Pérez was the most memorable for me. Although the film is facing some backlash for its recent win of the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), some backlash which I can not say I disagree with, it was recorded and edited in such a way that I was able to look past my discontent with the musical score and recognize its unique style. Emilia Pérez frequently included distinctive camera angles, all of which were connected and displayed in such a way that their creative excellence was evident throughout. The film and editing crews of this movie obviously dedicated a lot of effort to ensuring each scene was shot from a new perspective, working seamlessly with the set designers and choreographers to perfectly capture and utilise each individual detail. Emilia Pérez stood out amongst the films selected for this award, the majority of which were filmed and edited in a fairly standard, familiar style. Emilia Pérez should undoubtedly be applauded for its creative and abstract style.

Music (Original Score): Renowned for its original Broadway musical form, Wicked hails at the top of my list for overall musical achievement. The film’s soundtrack included key elements from the original adaptation while still featuring unique changes and creative liberties. This is to the credit of the actors, actresses, musical directors, and composers who contributed to the film. In comparison to the other movies that were nominated for this award, Wicked’s score was unique, emotionally compelling, and vocally impressive. Additionally, the songs were lyrically creative, involving select words from the fictional language in the land of Oz, such as “disgusticified,” “scandalocious,” and “hideoteous.” Wicked’s musical team did not fail to consistently amaze me with their orchestration. They are “clandestinedly” deserving of this award for their “thrillifying” score.

Music (Original Song): Coming from The Six Triple Eight, “The Journey” does an incredible job recounting the film’s events. Following the true story of women of color who fought in World War II, the movie includes scenes that are emotionally burdensome and anxiety-inducing. “The Journey,” performed by H.E.R., includes minor piano chords that occasionally resolve to a major progression, perfectly resembling the somber and uncertain times experienced by the women in the 6888 Battalion. The song’s lyrics are complex, telling of “the times [they] thought [they’d] never make it through,” and how those times were “part of the plan, the journey.” The composition of the song invoked a strong sense of sorrow and perfectly complemented the story captured by the film. Its placement at the end is phenomenally powerful, helping summarize the events of the movie. With its continuous melodic and lyrical excellence, “The Journey” exceeded my expectations and was undoubtedly my favorite of the songs nominated for this award.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role: Anora’s Yura Borisov stole the show with his role of Igor. Borisov played the part with ease, and his presence was overall quite enjoyable. His character was very memorable and believable, and although the character was relatively simple, he stood out amongst the chaos of the movie. His role, an inexpressive henchman hired to find the son of a Russian oligarch, was played expertly and helped ground some of the more overwhelming scenes. However, when necessary, he was able to contribute to the overall disorder of the production. For example, his execution of fight choreography was thoroughly impressive, moving quickly and demonstrating a believable altercation. Borisov was incredible as Igor, and holds his spot as my favorite of the nominees for this award.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role: With her performance as Rita Mora Castro in Emilia Pérez, Zoe Saldaña took me by surprise. Castro is a lawyer who is kidnapped and hired to aid a criminal in transitioning from male to female. As she is jostled between a life of luxury and the complications of organizing the sex change, her emotions rapidly change. I was stunned by the ability of Saladaña to make such quick shifts in sentiment, carrying an effortless accuracy with the character’s display. It was truly amazing to see how Saldaña’s body language adjusted scene by scene to fit the character’s environment. Displaying emotion is something that many actors and actresses spend years attempting to perfect, and Saldaña seems to have reached that point of perfection, qualifying her for the award.

image credits: Vogue