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Really big show: Student stereotypes make winning documentary

By Natalie Ragus/Staff Writer

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Zosha Kandel, a Nipomo High School junior, recently debuted her first film at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. / Adobe/Bryan Walton

A Nipomo High School student made a big impression on the big screen at the recent San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.

Zosha Kandel, a junior, won in the youth documentary category for “Shades of Purple,” her film on stereotyping among teens.

“It was really exciting. It was really cool to be there with all these other young people of all ages and see their films and their work,” Zosha said. “I was really honored to have my film shown on the big screen for the first time.”

The film’s title comes from a section in the documentary in which a young boy explains that many people assume he is gay because he likes the color purple, “but there are lots of things that come in purple,” he says.

As a freshman, Zosha noted the many different groups and stereotypes rampant on the Nipomo High School campus.

Like the kids in her film, the straight-A student and film club president said she has dealt with the stereotypes that people hold about her.

“I mean, I tend to try to stay as open-minded and shy away from that as much as possible, but I definitely feel that people judge me. ‘Oh, she’s just smart, and she just wants to do her work,’” Zosha said.

After talking with a friend about how common stereotypes are, Zosha set out to make a documentary highlighting the issue for a campus film festival.

Three of her best friends, classmates Hannah Elston, Shayla Dybdahl and Brandon Hawkinson, helped her film and interview students and edit footage into the final product.

When asked how she balanced school with making the film, Zosha laughed.

“I don’t know if you can call it balancing, between it and school work. I didn’t sleep,” she said.

Earlier this year, when Zosha and the other members of the film club learned that the prestigious festival would be open to youth for the first time, they wanted to enter their own film — even though the festival would also have entries from the likes of Josh Brolin and other professionals.

However, there was not enough time to make a film from scratch, so the team decided to enter “Shades of Purple.”

Among the entries Zosha beat out were a documentary filmed in Afghanistan, and another where a child talked about his father and the challenges he had with a disability.

The teen’s success in the festival was no surprise to those who know her best.

Zosha has always had artistic tendencies, said her mother, Donna Kandel, who teaches calculus at Nipomo High.

And Zosha’s sister Anya, 25, is traveling the world making a documentary of her own.

“(Zosha) is a musician. She’s done theater stuff before, and our family’s been very interested in theater and art,” she said. “We’re regulars at the PCPA (Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts) and the Palm.”

The Palm Theater in San Luis Obispo primarily shows smaller, independent films.

Kandel said she was proud of her daughter, who aspires to attend Yale but has not yet settled on a major.

“I’m proud of her for doing (the film) and for having that insight right off the bat in high school,” she said. “The film reflects some really great insights she has.”

Despite a filmmaker’s initial insights, sometimes it’s she who really learns a lesson or two.

While working on her documentary, Zosha said she was “a little afraid” to approach a certain group on campus because of her own stereotypes of that group.

“It turns out that they were one of the most interesting and nicest groups to talk to,” she said. “Art can not only be expression, but it’s definitely a learning experience, too ... a way to learn and connect with others, and I think it’s important that the world at large should discover that and experience that.”

nragus@theadobepress.com