12 Art and Film HS students represented our school at the IASAS Cultural Convention hosted at ISKL from November 7 – 9, 2024. Here, they didn’t just explore their passions; they embodied them in the company of fellow IASAS students! With their artistic vision and cinematic brilliance, they didn’t just push boundaries; they redefined them by celebrating diverse perspectives. The art was stunning and awe-inspiring, and the storytelling through film was compelling and enthralling.
Here, we catch up with some of the delegates, CJ L. (’25), Abhig R. (’27), Xinti L. (’25), and Sofia NB (’26), and find out about the workshops they participated in, their most memorable moments, the artwork and films they created and more.
Here are their stories:
ART
CJ P. (‘25)
Tell us more about some of the workshops you participated in during Culcon.
I participated in workshops for letterpress, photography, and stop-motion animation; I personally found photography the most fun, as it was my newest experience. We used vintage cameras to take black-and-white photos, manually making all the camera adjustments – a fun learning process. After taking the photos, we moved into the dark room (since the photos are light-sensitive). They are soaked in 3 solutions before developing. The initial images are inverted, so there were a few additional steps to get the final photo. Overall, the results looked extremely cool, blending vintage and modern vibes.
The letterpress and stop-motion animation workshops were also fun, though they were the most time-consuming. In letterpress, we basically use stamps to create artwork, manually arranging each letter and image stamp in a metal frame. After arranging everything, small metal blocks were placed in any space between the stamps to secure them, and then ink was applied to the stamps to transfer them onto paper.
In stop-motion animation, we used a free app to create the animation on our phones. For this session, we learned to make a firework-themed animation using Play-Doh. Every change in action or form was created manually with the Play-Doh, and then a photo was taken for each frame.
Please describe the artwork you exhibited at the IASAS CulCon.
Two of my artworks were exhibited at IASAS Culcon. One titled Whirlwind and the other August 14, 219. I created these pieces to showcase my versatility in different artistic styles and mediums.
Whirlwind is a traditional piece made on brown paper using oil pastels. I was inspired by Van Gogh, especially in his piece, Starry Night, and his self-portraits, where I aimed to capture his distinct broken brushstroke style and color scheme.
August 14, 219 is a digital piece in a more stylized approach, featuring concept art for an original character I designed named Sylvas, a fictional serial killer (hence, the crime board I designed for this IASAS piece). I experimented with a grayscale color palette with hints of red (for blood).
Describe your most memorable moments during IASAS Culcon.
Some of my most memorable moments were when I spent time with students from other schools and watched the films showcased this year.
The Collaboration Project and simply connecting with other students and those I hosted were especially meaningful. Having attended this convention for multiple years, I was able to reconnect with familiar faces and catch up. However, hosting the students was a particularly special experience for me since a student from Manila who once hosted me at her school for Culcon was the student I was hosting! Even if I kept in touch with her, I only met her again after 3 years in person, so it was quite a special moment. But overall, knowing this is my final IASAS Culcon made nearly every experience feel memorable.
The films this year have been amazing, especially for ISKL. The stories were interesting, and the cinematography was amazing for all of them. There were even visual effects in the two horror films.
What new techniques or things did you gain/learn as an artist through your experience, and how have they impacted your work?
I didn’t really gain any new direct art skills since I was already familiar with most of the activities we did in some way. However, I did learn to communicate more (public speaking), as it was a large part of this year’s IASAS Culcon. While interacting with other students from different schools is always a part of Culcon, my role as a student committee member and delegate required me to talk to a larger audience than I typically would. This experience helped me build more confidence in public speaking, a skill I know will be valuable in art college, where I’ll likely need to present my work, collaborate, and support others.
Sofia NB (‘26)
Tell us more about some of the workshops you participated in during Culcon.
I participated in the Batik workshop, the Relief Print workshop, and the Photography workshop. They were all so fun and engaging! I particularly enjoyed doing the photography workshop, mainly because the instructor, Jeffrey Lim, was very funny and informative. What we practiced specifically was traditional silver print photography with manual cameras; we used a red room, negative photos, and positive ones, too. My favorite moment from the workshop was when I laughed while my friend took a picture, and I looked like a ghost in the developed photo!
Please describe the artwork you exhibited at the IASAS Cultural Convention.
I submitted two pieces: one abstract, Hello, Person I Like, and one a digital collage, Her and Her Fish. The abstract piece is probably my favorite because I had a lot of fun making it, and I found a lot of joy in making all the bubbly, round shapes and using all the bright colors. I learned a lot about color, composition, and style from the two pieces, and I felt so immensely happy that they could be exhibited at CulCon.
Describe your most memorable moments during IASAS Culcon.
We were given the opportunity to have a visiting artist critique our exhibition work, which was the most memorable moment for me. Rico Leong (the relief printing instructor) critiqued my work and gave incredibly valuable feedback. I felt (and still feel) honored to have gotten advice from a professional artist.
What new techniques or things did you gain/learn as an artist through your experience, and how have they impacted your work?
I learned the value of practicing art every day at CulCon. I set a goal for myself to try and draw every day. The challenge forced me to draw things out of my comfort zone: buildings, environments, and people I didn’t know well. I also learned the importance of interacting with other artists. I gained a lot of inspiration, which helped me add new ideas to my art, and I also made many new friends who like art as much as I do.
FILM
Abhig R. (‘27)
Please tell us more about any workshops and events you attended during IASAS.
The workshops I attended were extremely helpful in terms of giving us ideas and tips that needed to be covered in class. The workshop leaders were current filmmakers and professors who were naturally very knowledgeable about filmmaking. We dived deep into iconic films, analyzed artistic intention and craft, and learned much about the minuscule details that carry a film’s quality.
We’re curious about the film you created for the IASAS opening night. What inspired you to make this, and what are you most proud of?
My film, Candidate 33, was quite a challenge. Making a three-minute film has always been a struggle for me, as the narratives I create are meant for longer films. When beginning the pre-production process, I decided to go for the horror genre as it was the easiest to tell a story within three minutes. I’m most proud of the storyline; I was pleased when the audience gasped at the surprise ending!
Describe your most memorable moments during IASAS.
The most memorable moment during IASAS has to be the red carpet evening. The atmosphere was incredible during the screening, with cheers for each school, gasps, and “works” for all the films.
Watching our films on the big screen and receiving great responses from the audience is genuinely an amazing feeling, and I can’t wait to relive it during the next IASAS film conference.
Xinti L. (‘27)
Please tell us more about any workshops and events you attended during IASAS.
Over the past few days, I participated in a workshop led by Mr. Breen O’Reilly, the Chief Examiner for IB Film and one of the curriculum’s creators. Each day, we spent an hour exploring different aspects of film and learning from his personal experiences in the film industry. Mr. O’Reilly was incredibly knowledgeable and approachable, which made the sessions highly engaging.
Additionally, delegates whose films were showcased on screening night had the unique opportunity to receive feedback from professional critics. Every day, we also attended film screenings with Q&A sessions, where we watched local films and engaged with the filmmakers and actors who visited our school.
One of the highlights was working in groups formed from each IASAS school to create our own films based on prompts given by our teachers. Watching our final creations on the big screen was a thrilling experience and brought us immense pride and joy. This experience allowed me to forge new friendships, learn new techniques, and explore a genre of filmmaking very different from what I’m used to. I’m incredibly grateful for everything I gained from this event.
We’re curious about the film you created for the IASAS opening night. What inspired you to make this, and what are you most proud of?
For the weeks leading up to Culcon, our film teacher dedicated much class time to students working on IASAS films. I was already collaborating with a friend on another project outside of class, but with all our free time, my classmate Haider M. (‘27) and I decided to create a new film just for fun—which led to the choice of making a comedy.
Because we approached this project with such a lighthearted mindset, it became one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve ever had. Writing the script, we’d come up with the dumbest things possible that didn’t make sense and laugh at how funny we thought we were. It was kind of like a big, extremely time-consuming joke.
Production was even better, with plenty of random, improvised moments that we thought were hilarious. I’m most proud of how we handled the challenge of filming in such a small space—the elevator setting forced us to be creative with camera angles and placements. The confined setting was tricky, but we made it work, and I’m proud of how it turned out.
One thing that added some pressure was the reminder of how challenging comedy can be in film, especially with humor being so subjective. Going into this, we were skeptical of how funny our film actually was. And as the editor, after watching it over a hundred times, I became completely numb to the humor. Before the screening, I was pretty nervous about the straight faces and silence from the crowd. But the experience was nothing like I’d feared. People laughed and applauded—realizing that people genuinely enjoyed what we’d created was surreal.
Describe your most memorable moments during IASAS.
Although it might have defeated the purpose of IASAS, my most memorable moments from the convention were the ones I spent with friends I already knew before IASAS. While I did make a lot of new connections and am incredibly grateful for those, it was these moments that really deepened the bond within our existing group. Sitting together during lunch, chatting in our free time, and being loud, they’re the ones who truly made IASAS unforgettable for me, and I’m very grateful for them.
Do you know of any student, teacher, parent, or staff who always has an anecdote to tell, loves to share some insights into their passions and interests, or simply is a Panther through and through? Nominate them to be featured in our Panthers of ISKL stories by sending in your submissions here.
