NECS Student Film at Peekskill Film Festival!
Updated: Aug 15, 2025
Located in the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater, a beautifully restored 1,100 seat, 1930’s jewel centrally located in the heart of downtown Peekskill, the Peekskill Film Festival is a dream destination for film fans and filmmakers alike!
This year, NECS filmmaking students produced a film titled "We Are Democracy" and submitted it to the Peekskill Film Festival, where it was selected as one of the featured films.
"Is my five-year-old sister a part of Democracy?" "Am I a part of it?" These are the questions that kids aren't asking because they've already been told that the answer is no. But what if we told them the answer was yes? And why isn't it? We're here to speak about what Democracy means to us. It doesn't have to be this huge "political idea." For us, it's just a way of life that involves making every person's story matter in the story of our world, no matter how many years they've lived here. And it's a way of life that we're willing to fight for in our communities where, for sure, some voices are treated as less important than others. How do we make space for people to be themselves? How do we amplify youth voices? What even is Democracy? When we speak out and live our lives freely, that's Democratic. When we listen to people from all walks of life (our young and our old), that's Democratic. When we bring unheard people into the spotlight, that's Democratic. We are NECS, and We Are Democracy.
If you want to know more about this festival, visit their website: peekskillfilmfestival.org
CLick the link below to view our student film.




https://nycasinon.com caught my attention because the whole premise of kids being told they're not part of democracy really lands differently when you hear it from students themselves rather than adults. The line about making every person's story matter regardless of how many years they've lived here stuck with me, especially since youth voices tend to get tokenized rather than genuinely included. Curious how the audience at a 1930s theater like the Paramount responded to such a directly personal take on a word that usually gets buried in political jargon.