By Alesha Capone
A touching tale about the friendship between three pupils is the focus of a video that Truganina’s Al-Taqwa College has entered in the Focus on Ability Short Film Festival.
The annual festival encourages filmmakers to “focus on the ability” of people with a disability and tell their stories.
Al-Taqwa’s entry for this year’s festival is titled Optism: A Tale of Unbreakable Friendship.
Al-Taqwa’s education coach and media/debating curriculum domain leader Obayda Kannouj, and video and multimedia specialist Pongky Nataatmaja, both worked on the film project.
Ms Kannouj said the film followed the story of grade three pupils Anthony, Arvin and Noor Dean.
Two of the boys have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Ms Kannouj said the strength of the bond between the three youngsters, along with the guidance of their teachers, has helped them to solve any issues that come their way and to be themselves without fear of being ostracised.
Mr Nataatmaja said that they were able to shoot the film when Victorian students returned to school earlier this year, and then edit the footage during lockdowns.
“We just turned the camera on and let them (the boys) be themselves,” Mr Nataatmaja said.
Each year since 2018, Al-Taqwa has won an award at the Focus on Ability festival, which Ms Kannouj described as “an honour”.
“However, what motivates us to produce these videos beyond the festival is seeing the impact they have on our school community in giving the viewers a better understanding of the various challenges that some of our students are going through,” she said.
The winners of this year’s Focus on Ability festival will be announced next month.
