Maggie Owen, Reporter
@mowencourant
The red carpet has been rolled out and the guests have started to arrive. They are dressed to the nines and mingle on the carpet in dresses and suits. The hall is filled with excited anticipation as everyone speculates who will walk out holding the coveted gold awards. No, this is not just any glamorous awards show, this is New Canaan High School’s very own New Age Film Festival.
Started last year by a group of juniors in the NCHS Film club, the first annual New Age Film Festival occurred last May. This year the same group has been working all year to build upon the success of last year’s festival. Throughout the year, they have been gearing up for the second annual film festival, which will occur on May 25th.
Despite its glitz and glamour, the New Age Film Festival was once just an idea in the minds of seniors Jessica Dantas and Jenny Levine. “Film club used to be a few seniors just watching movies but then all of them graduated and Jenny and I thought we should recreate the club,” Jessica said. “I told Jenny that I had an idea about making a film festival for the club.”
When Jessica and Jenny proposed their idea to film teacher Ms. Sinski, the Film Club and festival started to transform from an idea into a reality. “They came to me and explained their ideas about making a Fairfield County wide film festival at our school because filmmaking is becoming such a popular activity for high schoolers today,” Ms. Sinski said.
The students in the Film Club have worked hard throughout the year to prepare for the festival. “Getting ready for the film festival is a long process that starts in the beginning of the year with a lot of the logistical things,” senior club member Izzy Marshall said “We also have to get the word out, make a budget, fundraising,” .
A major job for the students in Film club is making sure that film students throughout Fairfield County know about the opportunity to share their work. “We mail invites to lots of schools and Ms. Sinski sends personal emails to film teachers asking them to get the word out to students,” Izzy said. “We also make many posters and put them everywhere around New Canaan and in other surrounding towns.”
Last year, the Film Festival received submissions from eight schools throughout Fairfield County. This year, they hope to expand its scope even more. “We got 71 submissions and we are hoping to get more this year,” Ms. Sinski said.
According to Ms. Sinski, the inclusion of different schools is an important part of the film festival. “It was nice to collaborate with others and spend a night talking to kids from others schools,” she said. “Having kids from other schools raised the stakes to see the level of filmmaking that other schools are doing.”
Another important aspect of the Film Club is having every member of the club actively work on their own filmmaking. “We encourage everyone who is part of film club to submit a film,” Izzy said. “Almost everyone in the club is in a film class, and the club gives them some more time to work on their movies.”
When all of the films are submitted, they are published to the New Age Film Festival website and the competition begins. “I publish the videos on our website so public watch the videos and vote on which ones they think are the best of each category,” Ms. Sinski said.
But the main prizes are awarded by distinguished experts in their fields from the area. “The jurors will go through and give awards like best interview or best acting in a narrative,” Jessica said.
After the polls have closed and the experts have cast their votes, the public must wait for the festival to see the results. Until the night of the festival, the recipients of all of the awards are confidential. “It is all kept under cover until the night of the festival which is the awards night.” Ms. Sinski said.
There were many highlights of the first annual film festival, but the most satisfying aspect of the night for the students in the Film Club was the sense of accomplishment in seeing all their hard work pay off. “The best part of last year’s festival was just seeing something that we had thought about and planned so much for finally taking shape,” Izzy said.
Although the leaders of Film Club are seniors, they have big hopes for the Film Festival even after they leave for college. “Ms. Sinski says that she sees it going through the 50th annual film festival and we really hope that happens,” Jessica said. “I know that I am going to come back and help the club out because it is so important that the New Age Film Festival continues.”
