That Space on the Sidewalk: Students’ film selected for 2023 Student World Impact Film Festival

That Space on the Sidewalk is a quiet, empathetic contemplation of attending Connecticut College as a student of color. Given its lowkey, hushed quality, it is perhaps ironic that the documentary short by Lorena De Leon ’22 and Alex Reyes ’23 made some noise and demanded attention on campus upon its completion and showing in 2022. Now, that attention has extended to the festival circuit with Space's premiere as an official selection of the 2023 Student World Impact Film Festival, which took place in June.

The film’s title references an experience described by the filmmakers as unique to BIPOC members of Conn’s community. “We’ve noticed this common experience of when BIPOC people and white students were on the same sidewalk, it was always the BIPOC students being expected to move,” De Leon explained. “[The] film became kind of a metaphor for that moment of trying to articulate what it is to take up that sidewalk and not move.”

To that end, the film adopts a nonintrusive eye. While some subjects occasionally speak about their experience on campus, Space predominantly lets the people’s presence and actions speak for themselves. The audience sees students dance, study, work on-campus jobs and go about their daily lives. And, despite the nonjudgmental nature of the lens, the camera is consistently close to the individuals, moving beyond medium shots to capture hands, eyes, hair, and more. The result connects the viewer deeply with the subjects.

The intimacy came from a relatively short journey from development to That Space on the Sidewalk’s completion. It all began, according to Reyes, at the Coffee Grounds, Conn’s student-run coffee shop. “When we were working on the film treatment, we were doing this for breakfast … just like over bagel sandwiches,” recalled Reyes. “Then we showed it to Professor Ian Harnarine. He was supportive, really supportive of our idea.”

Over the next seven weeks, De Leon and Reyes collaborated to capture a wide swath of Conn experiences. Given their commitment to making space for students of color to be seen and heard, the two reached out to people who never expected to be featured in a film and worked with and around their schedules. The result was over 10 hours of footage for a project targeted to be around eight minutes in length when fully edited.

“We really put our whole hearts in,” explained De Leon. “I think we just love that we could spend time with the students. They were very excited to work with us. But we’re very excited too. Like, ‘No, you’re an amazing person.’” It was a treat for everyone working on this.”

Because of their enthusiasm, cutting the footage often proved difficult. Each time they showed their professor their latest cut, he’d remind them, “No. One short,” because of all they wanted to include, remembered De Leon. “We went through, I think, three workshopping and editing cycles. We were liking being able to see how the impact of the grew even as we cut. We actually ended up editing it a lot more than was required, but we just loved the whole process.”

Reyes echoed De Leon’s sentiments, “I remember, especially, during the editing portion, during the music segment, we were timing the video clips to the movement, and then matching actions. It was very like ‘movie magic’ seeing how different each of our interviewees were but also how similar.”

After showing That Space on the Sidewalk on campus in Spring of 2022, the two left it alone. Briefly. By Fall of 2022, however, the duo had thoughts about what to do with their project next.

“We called each other and said, ‘Hey, we should submit to film festivals,’” Reyes recollected. And then they waited to hear back from the Student World Impact Film Festival. While waiting, neither rested on their laurels.

De Leon, who majored in English and film studies, had already graduated and moved to Chicago to attend Columbia College. There she began her work toward an MFA, a choice she partially credits Reyes with inspiring. “I’ve made a lot of films, but I think Alex is just a wonderful person, and working with that kind of person makes the process better,” she said. “Working with a collaborator who has been just as passionate, as dedicated, it influenced who I want to be as a director, and also, who I choose to work with as a director.”

She continued to reflect, “I think the topic is so important, too. It’s become kind of meta. I’m going through this process of being a Latina filmmaker and having to take up that space in the industry. It emulates what I care about and is the starting point for what I will do later.”

At Conn, Reyes continued to study filmmaking, in addition to a second major in East Asian studies.

“I still miss working with Lorena,” Reyes said. “I think that was my first project. So I was kind of nervous in terms of doing this. Working with Lorena made me feel comfortable. Now I really making space for characters or people like these. When you are underrepresented in film, sometimes it can feel lonely. I want to make them feel less lonely. Even if it’s just one person that I can help feel that less, I think that would be lovely.”

To that end, Reyes took her efforts into the science fiction realm, creating a film called Stellar Connections. “[It’s] about an alien who runs away from her home planet and falls in love with a human woman. Then someone else from [the alien’s] home planet comes and wants to get revenge on humanity.” While waiting to hear from film festivals on Connections’ fate, Reyes spent the summer working on a new screenplay about growing up and entering adulthood. “Oh, and my mom wants me to help out with making her cooking videos,” she added with a laugh.

At Columbia College, De Leon has begun planning her thesis film. “It’s called Bajo El Mismo Sol,” she revealed. “It’s about people understanding loss, understanding the betrayal of a country, but also just understanding human connection, human relationship. So it’s pitched as something that is immediately expected to be a romantic kind of drama. But it’s diverting from the genre and becoming just about humans connecting, being people.”

As the two branch out from documentary to fiction in their filmmaking, they remain focused on finding and elevating the humanity of their subjects, especially those who are too often moved aside by the majority.