Maggie Owen, Reporter
@mowencourant
On most nights, NCHS is empty while students and teachers prepare for their next school day at home. However, on Wednesday May 25, the Wagner room was full of students who were eagerly awaiting the screening of their films and the announcement of the winners.
This year was the second annual New Age Film Festival, a film competition offered to students from NCHS and surrounding high schools. A red carpet is rolled out in the NCHS lobby for student filmmakers and their fans to make their way to the Wagner Room where every film from each category was previewed. Once each category is previewed, winners of different awards are announced by members of the Film Club and their full films are shown.
For many student filmmakers, this night is as exciting as it is nerve-racking. “When I found out I had won, I was shocked, elated, and proud, I definitely did not expect to win. There were so many other good entries, and I was quite surprised when my name was called,” said junior Alice Gelhaus, who won the award for TV Production and Viewers Choice for her GOP debate spoof.
The winners from each category were decided by a panel of distinguished jurors who are very experienced in their individual fields of film making. Although the jurors were invited to the festival to help select and present awards, their presence and filmmaking experience was utilized in many ways. “The juror Roger Goodman came in with his own production team and helped us setup lighting and layout and all those little details which took it almost to that theatrical level,” said Jennifer Sinski, NCHS Art teacher and Film Club leader.
Despite this only being the second annual Film Festival, it has grown in many ways since its first year. “Last year, the film fest was recorded by NCTV but it was never broadcasted live and I think overall, we brought the production to a new level this year,” Ms. Sinksi said.
For each award given, the name of the winning film was placed in an envelope to be opened by the students in the Film Club who were hosting the festival. Because of this, Ms. Sinski was the only person in the room who knew all the results ahead of time. “I could watch a kid in the audience as the envelope was opened so I could watch their reaction when they found out that they had won,” Ms. Sinski said. “Getting to watch that meant everything to me.”
