Adam Banks

Anyone who’s ever seen a teen comedy knows what a high school graduation looks like in the United States: a bunch of teenagers sit next to each other in heavy gowns and tasselled hats, sweating in the summer sun, waiting their turn to collect their diplomas. But what does a high school graduation look like in the middle of a pandemic? How do you walk down the aisle when you’re not allowed to leave your car? Eight-minute documentary The Procession gives viewers an insight into what that experience looked like, in a year where society had to come up with new ways to do old things.

The film – co-directed by Grant and Adam Conversano – brings us into the world of a few thousand high school seniors from North Carolina as they go through a one-of-a-kind graduation ceremony at the Charlotte Motor Speedway (yes, the one from Logan Lucky). There’s not much in the way of interviews or explanations. Instead, we see the event unfold in a quiet, natural fashion, almost like we’re on the ground with the camera crew, observing the ways in which this particular event differed from the kind of ceremony we’re used to seeing.

Speeches are broadcast on a jumbotron and degrees are handed through car windows like happy meals.

As Grant and Adam relayed to S/W in a statement, “the nature of this event embodies the specific tension of people trying to connect and celebrate during a time of rigid separation,” and they do a really nice job of showing what that kind of celebration looks like. We see speeches broadcast on a jumbotron, and students watching their graduation ceremony from the comfort of air-conditioned cars.

The lucky few with a sunroof stick their heads out of their vehicles, looking around for the faces of classmates they haven’t seen in months. Some of them, bored with it all, look down at their phones in search of something more interesting. Teachers wave from the sidelines at students they’ve mostly talked to through video chats, and degrees are handed through the windows of cars like happy meals. It’s all a bit strange, but it’s also a bit familiar, which is in some ways the theme of this year.

‘Way to go Class of 2020!’ – Teachers say their goodbyes as students drive past in their cars

You’d think an event like this might have a dystopian tone, but it’s largely uplifting, reminding us that we can still celebrate shared moments, even if we have to do so from a distance. Though students haven’t been able to physically hug or hang out with their friends, they’ve learned to connect in other ways. For months, they’ve connected through group chats and TikToks and deeply relatable memes, and while a mostly-online life is no real substitution for in-person socializing, it helps to commiserate with others over the Internet. It’s one way we’ve learned to get through it all.

Ultimately, in a year where everything was kind of awful, sometimes you just want to see a film that puts a smile on your face. The Procession is a reminder that life continues to go on, despite everything. And though the class of 2020 was robbed of the senior year they were promised – with cancelled proms, parties, and nostalgic last walks through high school hallways – they still managed to go to a graduation ceremony and grab a little closure on their way out the door.