Zoë L’Henaff, Reporter
@zoelcourant
On June 1st, the NCHS Film Club, in collaboration with other area schools, will present the Eighth Annual New Age Film Festival in the evening in the Wagner Room. The Film Festival is being held in person for the first time since 2019 and is open to students within our community, as well as those in outside schools, such as Brian McMahon, Norwalk High School, Ridgefield High School, and Sacred Heart Academy.
To prepare for the Film Festival, the various high schools work through an extensive process that requires months of planning and collaboration. Between the preparation of the submissions, which were due by April 29th, and the evaluation of each film by a panel of judges, the Film Festival is a production packed with mounds of detail that add up to a beloved annual event.
The advisor of the film club and the teacher of the filmmaking class, Ms. Jennifer Sinski, has been overseeing the Film Festival since its start in 2014. “We love to see everyone, inside and outside the classroom, participate and submit their films to the festival.” Ms. Sinski said.
Submissions to the festival are not exclusive to members of the film club or the class itself. Junior Molly Reed, who is not enrolled in the course or the club, is presenting her Twilight-inspired piece, “Mylight”. “I think that going into it with a lack of filmmaking experience was intimidating because my competitors definitely have that background,” Molly said. “I took TV Broadcasting during my freshman year, and that was very helpful. I just really love movies, so I’m just basing this off of what I see on TV.”
Other participants, like Senior and film student Jack Marshall, have found that the learning part of the films is the most enjoyable and rewarding. “Even with experience from the class, I still enjoy the trial and error process, and I think you really get the best work out of it.”
Although what the viewers see is an essential part of the festival, there is a hidden aspect to the process. “More goes into planning, story boarding, and scripting than the actual production itself,” Ms. Sinski said. “You need to have the right equipment to start to begin the process.”
Although Jack noted that the filming process for his movie, titled “An Interview with Jimmy Lee“, was grueling, he feels that his time commitment has paid off. “Our filming process was about 3 hours with maybe 5-6 hours of preparation and story boarding. As far as the editing goes, that was maybe a 13-hour-long journey,” Jack said. “I’m really proud of how the film turned out and I think that in the end, all of the time I spent was really worth it.”
The panel will judge each film based on what category it falls under: the categories include animation, narratives, documentaries, and open entries. “I’m always so interested in the animation category and seeing what students are doing for their films because it always blows me away how detailed the productions are.” Ms. Sinski said.
The prestigious judge panel features graduates from top tier schools, such as Elon University, Boston University, and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Judge and 2015 NCHS graduate Lillian Engel has experience in Hollywood and is currently working on the Disney live action Peter and Wendy.
The festival itself will be in person and will be streamed on YouTube for at-home viewers to watch. So, if you can’t make it to the festival on June 1st, be sure to catch the recording at home, and make sure to stay for the credits.
