5 shorts by area high schoolers shown at 5th Friends4Friends Film Festival tonight at DeYor

YOUNGSTOWN

Matt Bohr and Sarah Linton have a mutual friend who experienced being pressured to have sex, which served as the impetus for the main characters in a short film on the subject.

“It’s basically about a girl and her boyfriend, and the girl leans on her boyfriend, who wants sex,” Linton, an Fitch High School junior, said about the eight-minute film, “Draw the Line.” “Then they go to friends for advice and realize their relationship is toxic, so they break up.”

The short film was one of five shown during Thursday evening’s fifth annual Friends4Friends Campaign Film Festival at the DeYor Performing Arts Center, downtown.

Students from James A. Garfield, Fitch, Campbell Memorial, Western Reserve and Bedford high schools submitted short films that were featured at the festival. Main themes explored were sexual pressure, cyberbullying, cutting oneself and heroin addiction.

Hosting the event was OK Inc., a youth-service organization that sponsors the campaign set up to give students a voice to speak out on topics that are important and relevant to them, said Deborah Landis, OK Inc.’s program liaison.

Read more about the event in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.