Knoxville student's award-winning documentary wins praise from filmmaker Ken Burns

Jelena Rose Armsworth set out to make a documentary short film for a class project. She ended up getting to meet world-famous filmmaker Ken Burns after winning a national award for her film.

A sophomore at L&N STEM Academy, Armsworth traveled to Washington, D.C., for a National History Day contest. In front of around 3,000 students, Armsworth's film, titled "'Indian Magna Carta': The Proclamation of 1763 and the Indigenous People’s Rights Frontier," won third place in the Senior Individual Documentary category.

Her only worry was making sure she didn't trip as she accepted her award.

"I was really excited. I knew that ... if I placed as a documentary, that meant I was also a recipient of the Next Generation Angels Award. And that meant I got to have a mentorship session with Ken Burns," Armsworth said. "So I was really, really excited when I found out I won."

The Next Generation Angels Award (NGAA) is given to three high school and three middle school students each year who win in the individual documentary categories in the National History Day contest. The award is from The Better Angels Society, which is dedicated to funding films by Ken Burns and furthering education through film.

"I’ve been making documentary films for almost 50 years, but I’m still amazed and impressed with the range of topics from these young filmmakers," Burns wrote in an email response to Knox News. "In 2023 alone, they covered Indigenous land rights, environmentalism, racial segregation, Indigenous Australian art, vaccine development and equal rights for women."

Portraying international land rights and documenting challenges

Armsworth's documentary focused on the Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III dividing the land of the colonists using the Appalachian Mountains.

"I felt like the Proclamation of 1763, while people know about it for its importance for leading to the American Revolution, I didn't feel like a lot of people knew about how important it still was in Canada and internationally. And so I decided that that was what I wanted to focus on, to share that story," Armsworth said.

This project tied in with her talents across areas of study and activities she practices including music, international politics and organization of information.

One challenge Armsworth faced was locating documents and references to use visually in her film. She was able to rely on archived copies of the proclamation, old maps, preserved letters and paintings, along with recent coverage of protests and recognition of the proclamation by Indigenous people in Canada.

"Her film, like our upcoming 'American Revolution' film, has an added challenge of taking place before photographs, so it was great to see her use of maps, paintings and documents," Burns wrote.

She also had to work within a strict 10-minute time limit. The rule made her consider each piece of the short film, what the most important information was and how to structure her documentary.

As part of the award, Armsworth received a copyright, and her film will be kept in the Library of Congress.

"That is really cool. I don't know any of my friends who are copyright holders, so I get bragging rights," Armsworth said.

Preparing for her future and following her passions

Armsworth said she'll more than likely compete in the National History Day contest next year in the documentary category.

"It's definitely a useful set of skills to have because video editing comes up in all sorts of careers," Armsworth said. "I don't know if I specifically want to work on documentaries because I don't know what I want to go into ... but I definitely enjoy the video editing process and also like compiling a narrative."

She hasn't decided what she'll cover yet, but mentioned potentially picking from one of her favorite school subjects: science or math. She's grateful for the mentor session with Burns in which he asked questions about the students' films and even gave some life advice. Burns relayed that message with his key words of advice for young documentarians.

"Follow your passions and interests, wherever they may lead. Your work and your life will be better for it," Burns wrote.

Armsworth is one of two Tennesseans who placed this year. Middle school student Elayna Weintz from Collierville, Tennessee, won first place in the middle school division.

"I’ve long admired the creativity of Tennesseans, especially since our film 'Country Music.' These NGAA winners follow in the footsteps of incredible storytellers like Jon Meacham, Dolly Parton and Margaret Renkl. I look forward to seeing how Jelena Rose and others continue to tell the story of their state and beyond," Burns wrote.

Keenan Thomas is a higher education reporter. Email keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter @specialk2real.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville student's documentary wins praise from Ken Burns