1995 | 8min. | 16mm | silent written/directed/edited: pierre bonnett-bennu produced: pierre bonnett-bennu, victor davson starring: olivia chiu, tracy patterson music by: dr. buzzard's original savannah band, bobby mcferrin, yo yo ma.
	Winner New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship in Film, 2001 First Prize Reel Alternative Festival 2001

I have never believed in student films.

I've always felt that you should go all the way, all the time. You should always be experimenting and stretching the limits of what you know.

I did this piece while in film school at Pratt Institute and took it very seriously. When i presented it, I got little or no response from my peers. The year that I did this piece was a "Tarentino year," which is to say my classmates' films were full of firearms and bloodletting. There I was, surrounded by all these action pieces with a story set in an elementary school classroom. I felt like the odd man out to say the least. The chilly reception i received from my 'community' was part of what turned me away from film for almost three years directly after graduation. My mistake, of course, was not trusting my gut, a very important life/artist lesson.

When I finally showed this film again -- to Jamyla -- she convinced me as much, and I started to send it out again. Since then it has continued to open doors for me, win awards, pay our rent on more than one occasion, and continually reassert itself as a gem among gems.

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