If you’re reading this, chances are exceptional that you’re aware of many of the terrific aspects of the Milwaukee Film Festival. What you may not know is that we offer education screenings on weekdays during the festival! This year, over 2,100 students flooded the Oriental Theatre and Ridge Cinema for these screenings, which are paired with curriculum, talkbacks and, on one very special occasion, performances by the poets featured in our Teen Spotlight film, Louder Than a Bomb.

Louder Than a Bomb follows Chicago high school students as they prepare spoken word poetry pieces for the citywide poetry slam competition of the same name. Those who saw the film already know it’s great: it won our Audience Award. If you haven’t seen it, here’s the trailer. Nova, one of the poets (my personal favorite), has me in tears every time. Prepare to be moved:

I had no idea what to expect when we filled the Oriental with nearly 1,000 high school students. All I knew for sure is that the energy would be palpable. Students cheered for the poets as they performed on screen as if they were live performances—one of the things I love about watching films with young audiences. They’re not afraid to react audibly and passionately.

At the suggestion of director Jon Siskel, we didn’t announce that the poets would be in attendance. When Lamar took the stage, the audience went nuts! You would’ve thought they were seeing The Beatles circa 1964. Three girls in the front row nearly fainted. They slunk down in their seats, grabbed their hearts, and stared in amazement. It was awesome. Lamar performed a piece, the Steinmenautz group performed, and the crowd couldn’t get enough.

Yet it was the student questions that most affected me. One asked how to make his poetry “deeper.” He’s a writer, and he struggles to get to a place that moves people. The poets told him to be fearless: say everything he needs to say, forget about audience, forget about peoples’ judgments, and just go for it. They acknowledged how difficult that is—that writing emotionally exposes you. Regardless, they said, get it all out.

A girl then confessed that she “doesn’t write.” She journals but has never written a poem. She’s afraid of the structure—nervous that she doesn’t know the rules. The poets answered, “Just write.” They said forget that there are rules, because the rules aren’t the point. “The point is the poetry.” The point is expressing yourself at an age when it seems everyone is judging you, your concerns aren’t taken seriously, and the right people aren’t listening. The Q&A wasn’t just asking questions but also feeling heard.

This event, in my opinion, was both the best of the festival and at the heart of it. How else can you get young people excited about poetry, expressing themselves, connecting with strangers, and a historical theater? That, my friends, is the power of film.

Hear more about this remarkable event our good friends at 88.9 Radio Milwaukee.