MY HERO Film Festival Judge: Jennifer Borse Borland

Jennifer BorlandPhoto courtesy of Jennifer Borland

Redolent of nostalgia for previous film festivals, a vibrant sculpture of a bird sits on the windowsill of MY HERO judge Jennifer Borland’s office, reminding her of the positive message the project brings to the world.

One of the earliest films for the MY HERO festival featured an artist in Africa who transformed pieces of what seemed like junk into artworks of birds.

“As a judge one of those years, I was given a bird as well, and that’s something that still sits on my windowsill and it’s something that reminds me--every time I see it, of MY HERO and the impact that has,” explained Borland. “That person in Africa had created something that now sits on my windowsill, and that’s something that connects me to the [MY HERO] project and reminds me it’s something that’s still going and doing good things in the world.”

Borland currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana, where she utilizes her background in psychology, telecommunications, and mass communications to do research and evaluation on educational programming for formal and informal settings.

“Through our work we interface with a lot of groups that do work with children and things in the realm of children's media, and so it’s been kind of a fun thing to talk about this program when I see work that people are doing that is a good fit for the MY HERO program,” said Borland.

Borland’s first encounter with the MY HERO Film Festival was about 15 years ago, after attending a MY HERO workshop that brought people from different countries to learn about film and develop creative works with their own communities. Since that time, Borland has been volunteering as a film festival judge, assessing films and gravitating toward submissions that come from educational settings due to her educational background.

“Focusing on the positive things and proactive good things that people can do to make the world a better place, it [MY HERO] is one of those things that is always present of mind,” said Borland. “Whenever I see people doing something creative that relates to heroes or heroism in their own lives or communities, The MY HERO Project is always there and something I’m ready to talk about and share because I think it is a program that has a place in our world for sure--especially when there are so many negative things happening and so many new problems and challenges; so much negativity in general.”