Students get the red carpet treatment at Movie Star Camp film premiere

It’s not often that a middle-schooler stands on a red carpet and gets asked, “So who are you wearing tonight?” but questions like that were all part of the fun at a recent red carpet presentation Thursday, Sept. 17, at the premiere of two films shot this summer during Robbinsdale Area Schools Community Education’s Movie Star Camp. The premiere was held at FAIR School Crystal.

The movies, “Punk-N-Shine” and “The Phone Call,” were shot July 20-24. Twenty-two children in grades 1-9 participated. Steve Anderson, the director of the camp and of the films, is the head of Popcorn Media, which travels around the country doing movie camps.

“We’re constantly looking for new ideas, and for a first-time offering, we are very happy with it,” said Diane Dickmeyer, Youth Enrichment Program Specialist with Community Education. “It was something totally new for the kids, something we’ve never done before. We’re definitely going to do it next year.”

“This year, our emphasis was on verbal dialogue,” Anderson said. “One of the movies, ‘The Phone Call,’ is an elaborate phone call that starts with a couple friends on the phone and by the time it’s done, there are 15 kids on the phone and all sorts of mayhem. The other movie is a boy-girl band spoof with a nod back to the late ‘90s. These are Disney-type movies, they are just kind of fun, but they have little morals in them, too, so we hope we’re also helping parents raise good kids.”

After the students walked the red carpet, guests were ushered into the FAIR theatre, where cheers greeted the dimming lights that marked the start of the show.

“It will be cool to see myself on a big screen,” said Katia Vinogradov, a FAIR fifth-grader. “I’m auditioning to be in our school play, and I’m hoping to audition for a movie. I love acting, and I’ve always wanted to be in a movie. This helped me get ready for the real thing.”