Film Festival 2005
Molly Bannaky
A History of Black and White

The 5th and 6th grade students of Cambridgeport School worked very hard to create the animated short film, Molly Bannaky: A History of Black and White.

These young students collaborated to create a unique portrayal of race and culture in the United States. The narration, paired with the animation, enables the viewer to learn the inspiring historical story of Molly Bannaky.

The project allowed students to integrate academic and artistic disciplines, while mastering state-of-the-art technology and media skills. Their integration of academic and artistic disciplines is admirable.

We commend these students on their efforts and thank them for sharing such a powerful story with the MY HERO community.

Zack Goldhammer a student that participated in the making of the film was very moved by the experience and wrote this essay in reflection.

"I don’t believe one can become a hero just by merely doing a heroic act. Anyone can be a hero for a moment. Men and women can show bravery in the face of danger. They can leap into burning buildings and save babies and grandparents. They can catch murderers and criminals. They can do any clichéd heroic act, but all they all will get is their fifteen minutes of fame and then they will return to be being ordinary men and women. All they can be is human really, with all of the same temptations and limitations of anyone else.

I think part of the reason we have so few heroes today is because we have too much of The Truth. The Truth has toppled so many of our modern-day heroes with scandal, from mere celebrities like Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant to powerful politicians like J.F.K., Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. Even though we know The Truth is destroying our heroes, we cannot stop ourselves seeking it. It’s in our constitution for Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press. We can’t just execute people and call them witches just because they challenge the good name of our heroes as they used to do in Salem. The only way to protect our heroes is through the absence of definitive truth. Our heroes need mystery

Mystery is what makes it possible to have Heroes. It makes it possible to have so many different factions of Christianity. Each Faction can interpret Christ to be who they want him to be in their minds because we know so little about who he actually was. Mystery can also give a hero power. Gilgamesh probably didn’t really have the strength of a thousand men but in the minds of his people he did. This gave them the hope that they could overcome any obstacle and destroy any foe. But above all mystery gives you the ability to be a hero for more than just your lifetime. Part of the reason our movie was able to make Molly Bannaky into such a saintly and heroic figure without seeming patronizing or deceitful is that there is so little that we know about her. All we know was that she was a kind, caring woman. Her experience as an indentured servant might have given her empathy for people in the bondage of slavery. She was able to break boundaries by choosing an interracial marriage. Presumably, she, like us, had her own faults and troubles. We will never know, though, because there is so little known about her. This makes Molly Bannaky live on eternally, in the hearts of those who have heard her story, as a hero."