Five Pairs, Five Films, One Question: What’s It Like in Your Shoes?
There’s a certain kind of nervousness that comes with sleeping in someone else’s home. Waking up in their spare room, racing to an unfamiliar bus schedule, or eating a breakfast outside of your routine. This vulnerability is hard to capture on camera, but with the Sonder project, it’s found onscreen, in between the giggles, voiceovers, and montages. You’re both witnessing connection, and being connected.
It’s a beautiful experience delivered by five pairs of students from Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, with each pair composed of one student from Boston and one from Sudbury. They spent 24 hours living inside each other’s daily routines, taking the same bus, eating the same breakfast, and doing the same after-school activities together. In this student-driven project facilitated by EMA partner Filmbuilding, each pair then produced a short film about their shared experiences. Onscreen, we watch as they navigate the awkwardness, the internal discoveries, and the surprises. The films are funny and warm, but also profound in a way the students did not see coming.
Sudbury to Roslindale
"We were school friends, we knew each other because of ceramics." —Amahle & Sibbi
Amahle, from Roslindale, and Sibbi, from Sudbury, started their film with every teenager’s favorite pastime: shopping at the mall. From the very first clips, the two are seen laughing, in an easy and unforced manner that would make you think they’ve known each other for a lifetime. There’s a trust that you can feel without seeing, and that trust builds candidness, as noted in this reflection from Sibbi:
"People describe the neighborhoods in Boston as ghetto or very dangerous, but I felt very safe. I don’t think it was dangerous or anything"
The two considered themselves to be school friends, only connected by a ceramics class that they barely remember. However, after this experience, they each considered the other to be incredibly understanding and kind. Because of this, their film plays almost like an endearing vlog, watching two young girls slowly become friends.
Watch Sudbury to Roslindale here
The Space Between Us
“I’m really glad I have a friend like you now.” —Xintong & Nori
Xintong had just arrived from China. School staff described her as someone who “didn’t want to talk to people, she just wanted to go home.” Nori remembers being told that and asked to just meet her. What follows is one of the more tender arcs of the project. It starts out with a simple montage: getting ready for school, making breakfast, taking the bus. But cutting through the normalcy, Nori gives insight into her initial feelings:
“It was a big challenge. I was really shy and self-conscious to meet her, and there was a language barrier too.”
Compared to Xintong’s reaction when she was told there was another student who speaks Chinese she could connect with:
"I thought, wow, yay! Someone I can get close with."
By the end of the film, the two are cooking ramen together in matching onesies. The connection is beautiful to watch. Nori sums it up perfectly:
"I'm really glad I have a friend like you now."
Watch The Space Between Us here
Bonded
"The goal isn't to compare each other, it's to understand each other. Because no matter where we live or how different things seem, there's always things that connect us — and sometimes taking an adventure into someone else's life can make you understand and appreciate life as a whole better." —Adam & Evan
For Adam and Evan, basketball and food are their connectors. Adam’s family runs a restaurant and throughout the film the boys play basketball together, noting that they used to play together in middle school.
"Basketball connects us in a way. Every time we're together, we play at least once."
The film then takes a deeper look into their schedules. On Evan’s side, the two enjoy Newbury Street, boba, and hot pot (where Adam puts his chopsticks skills to the test). In the morning, Evan and Adam wake up before the sun to make the bus. After a long drive to a long bus ride, Adam reflects:
“If I was at my house at this time, I would be nowhere near close to leaving for the bus."
From basketball to bus rides, we can see the similarities between the boys shine through. They are both excited to learn and engage with each other’s lives. They speak to each other’s parents, eat dinner with their families, and go to sports practices together. Ultimately, they continue learning that there is more that connects them than not.
Different Worlds, New Perspectives
"Before, I only saw the surface — what we talked about at school or in passing. This helped me see her as a whole different person, not just as my friend from school." —Nyra & Kellie
Nyra and Kellie wasted no time integrating each other into their lives. Montages of family celebrations and hangouts paint a picture of acceptance and a willingness to understand. Nyra recounts watching Kellie care for her younger siblings in a way she didn’t expect, especially since Nyra is the youngest in her home. It’s these moments of clarity that give power to the entire Sonder project. After following Nyra’s routine, Kellie has a similar moment of reflection:
"That's just something that opened my eyes a little bit. You do all of that and still manage to be funny and nice."
Watch Different Worlds, New Perspectives here
Rumba
“A step backwards is still a part of a dance.” —Dino & Jasier
Dino and Jasier barely knew each other going in.
"When I got the email [connecting us to work on the Sonder project], I thought, I've only ever had two conversations with this person."
Their film moves between genuine curiosity and vulnerable tenderness. Dino, from Sudbury, talks about how much access Boston has. It’s surrounded by everything, but, even deeper, it is completely different than the city she was used to:
"Meeting your family was very interesting because I live in a majority white town. All of my friends growing up, their first language was English. That's not how you live your life, and it was interesting to see a whole new side of the world I had never seen before."
Jasier, meanwhile, found something unexpected in Sudbury's quiet:
"I found it interesting how quiet and dark it was. In Boston, the city lights always seem to seep in. I found it peaceful."
However, the most precious part of the film is watching them teach each other their respective dance styles: ballet for Dino and bachata for Jasier. Jasier takes a ballet class with Dino and is surprised by how hard it is, before the scene cuts to him teaching Dino to dance bachata. Dino's reflection on the experience doubles as a piece of wisdom: "A step backwards is still part of a dance."
Jasier closes the film with something that each film echoed in its own right:
"I hope this project makes it out of Lincoln-Sudbury. I hope this isn't just a one-time thing. I hope the up-and-coming seniors, sophomores, upperclassmen — I hope y'all do something. Bring this back. I want this to be applied to different schools, and see how they handle it, because not all districts have the same METCO students. As a community, you guys are in charge of next year."
None of these students woke up intending to make a statement about inclusion or belonging. They just wanted to experience each other’s lives. And through their points of view, both the students and the audience walk away with an authentic lesson in discomfort, curiosity, and, in every single film, a friendship that looks nothing like where it started. Social and emotional growth doesn't always show up as a data point. Sometimes it shows up as two kids in onesies, making ramen, laughing about an inside joke only they understand.
With projects like Sonder, Filmbuilding is creating pivotal learning experiences and collaborative film programming from the perspectives of students with so many stories to tell. For the benefit of us all, it will be worth watching where it goes next.
