Last year’s sixth-grade students in Reenie McMains’s class at Sierra Expeditionary Learning School, a Tahoe Truckee Unified School District public charter school in Truckee, produced a documentary short film as part of their expedition on the study of California geology.

The film, “Geology of California, 4,500,000,000 Years in the Making,” is a documentary short (25 minutes) that explores the forces that shape the state of California. It can be seen on Vimeo here.

This fall that documentary was chosen as the Best Educational Film in the Yosemite International Film Festival. It was the top choice among hundreds of entries from around the globe for its “originality, imaginativeness, and professionalism.”

The photography, scripts, interview questions, artwork, graphics, and editing were done by the 24 sixth-graders, led by McMains. They formed their own production company, Blue Bear Productions, and partnered with a local film company, DougMcmains.com, for post-production assistance.