photo by: Film screenshot/"Alone" by Caroline Börk

Anna Kober, left, and Shannon Dahl, who is portraying a ghost on the right, appear in Caroline Börk's short film "Alone." The film earned a "Superior" rating at the Virtual International Thespian Festival.

Free State junior Caroline Börk began making films when she was very young.

She first started making “silly videos” based on the “Pokemon” cartoon and video game series.

“It’s very embarrassing,” Caroline said with a laugh. “But I made (films) when I was younger and keep making them now. It’s a continuation of what I love through theater.”

Caroline’s talent behind the camera has now been recognized by an international student theater organization. She received a “superior” rating for her film “Alone” at the Virtual International Thespian Festival, which recognizes high-level achievement in school theater performance and production.

Although her beginnings were “silly” films, “Alone” is anything but. Instead, it is a serious piece about the sense of isolation many have grappled with over the last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“I wanted to make a piece that captured the 2020 experience,” Caroline said. “I hope the film lets kids and adults know that there are others feeling the same feelings of wanting, separation, sadness and great loneliness. We’re experiencing this together, but completely alone.”

photo by: Contributed

Caroline Börk

Despite her high score, Caroline did not win the overall award, which is called a Thespy. But the high rating itself is a major accomplishment for a Free State student. Brian Percival, who just finished his first year teaching, said he thought Caroline’s success was only the second time a Free State student had earned the highest rating at the festival.

“I’m really thankful,” Caroline said of the recognition, as she listed her fellow students, her family members, the school district and Percival for supporting her work. “I didn’t expect it at all.”

Caroline’s film features two actors portraying a girl and a ghost interacting at the park. The girl, played by Anna Kober, holds what looks like a friendship bracelet, seemingly feeling alone. But then the ghost, played by Shannon Dahl, meets the girl on the swing set and holds out her own bracelet, seemingly filling a void.

The girl and the ghost then build on their new friendship as they laugh and dance throughout the park, to an original song called “Never Alone,” which Caroline and her father, Reid Börk, wrote, and which Caroline sings.

The Journal-World won’t give away the rest of the film, which can be viewed on YouTube, but it’s probably safe to note that human interactions with ghosts aren’t always fun and games.

Caroline said she was grateful for Dahl’s and Kober’s performances and their willingness to be part of the project. She said the three of them filmed the footage on a cold day last fall — but the work really just felt like recreation with friends, an ironic contrast to the message of the film.

“It was so fun,” Caroline said. “They were absolutely fantastic actresses. It was almost like we were just hanging out (regularly),” she added.

photo by: Film screenshot/”Alone” by Caroline Börk

Anna Kober, left, and Shannon Dahl, who is portraying a ghost on the right, appear in Caroline Börk’s short film “Alone.”

The film was partly inspired by a children’s book that tells the story of an imaginary friend who searches for a real-life counterpart. But the emotional weight behind the film’s story is the depiction of distant relationships many people experienced during the pandemic.

That was especially true for local students, who spent a majority of their school year virtually. Rather than seeing their friends in class or in the hallways, they were often only able to interact with their peers through computer screens.

The film may have also resonated with Percival, who spent his first year as the theater director at Free State through that remote learning experience. He noted Caroline was one of the students who chose to learn virtually the entire school year despite the school allowing fully in-person learning in March.

“This past year I didn’t really get to know everybody,” Percival said of his students. “But (Caroline’s honor) shows me there’s a lot of work ethic and talent at Free State that makes me feel very lucky to be at the school.”

Some may come away with different interpretations of the film as well. When speaking to Caroline, the Journal-World suggested the film could be the story of a girl mourning a lost friend. Caroline said she liked that interpretation, specifically because it was different from what she may have intended.

“I love art because it can always be open to interpretation,” Caroline said.

Caroline has been participating in school and community theater since she was in second grade, she said. Additionally, she participates in the Free State band as a drummer and in a Free State improvisation troupe.

She said she specifically likes film because it is canonized. Unlike traditional theater, which consists of a performance that can only be viewed once, a film will always exist to be viewed again, she said.

While she still has a lot of time to figure out her future — and whether she will pursue theater or film as a career — she knows art will definitely be part of her life.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but I know it’s going to explore all the ideas I have in my head and change the world that will help others grow every day,” she said.