Every year, the IDC representatives from every school in the district must each give a presentation to the Board of Trustees about the activities and events from the school year, according to HHS IDC Representative Johnny Kobori.

Kobori said that usually, these presentations come in the form of a PowerPoint, but he wanted to do something different.

“I thought there was a better way to convey what Homestead is like to the board,” Kobori said.

He decided to create a documentary about life at HHS, and after gaining approval from the school, he took on the project independently, Kobori said.

“It took a lot of time. I’ve committed about 1,000 hours to the creation of the movie since thinking of the idea back in November,” Kobori said. “I spent about six hours on the documentary a day.”

Kobori collected footage for the documentary from January to April, going to classes during his empty period to record, collecting interviews during tutorial and lunch, and attending extracurricular activities after school. He then spent the weekends editing, he said.

Included in the documentary are staff members, teachers, athletes, club members and all types of students, Kobori said.

“Everyone [I interviewed] always had something to say, and my hope is that the documentary captures the most realistic depiction of Homestead,” Kobori said.

While the original point of the documentary was to create a presentation for the Board of Trustees, Kobori said the project had evolved further.

“As the project grew, I found so many other reasons how the documentary could be beneficial,” Kobori said. “Students already know what it’s like to be at Homestead, but I think incoming freshman and parents can learn a lot about the school from it in future years.”

The documentary had a premiere trailer that was released in March and shown to Board members.

“At the premiere of the trailer in March, each board member talked to me after and had this … moment when they realized the true insights of Homestead’s students and groups,” Kobori said. “Seeing that, and knowing that the documentary accomplished its original intent was amazing.”

The full documentary will be shown on Friday, May 12, at 7 to 8 p.m. in the cafeteria, with free popcorn.

“The most rewarding part of … the documentary is getting to hear about people’s stories and experiences,” Kobori said. “It’s really eye opening to sit down with a student or teacher and just talk to them about why they do what they do.”