Every year, the high school hosts the New Age Film Festival, where students can submit their works and win awards across six categories: Narrative, Music Video, Documentary, PSA/Commercial, Animation, and Open Entry. This year, however, the coronavirus pandemic forced the teachers and students to take the festival online, removing the red carpet and maintaining the festival’s goal: To promote student work.
Jennifer Sinski discussed this year’s film festival and the changes made due to the current pandemic. “We went completely virtual, which meant that our ‘Awards Night Ceremony and Viewing’ event was canceled,” she said. “This is unfortunate because students enjoy getting dressed up, walking the red carpet, and having the Oscar-like experience of seeing their film on a big screen in the Wagner room.”
However, Sinski said some elements of the film festival had stayed the same as last year. She then dissected this year’s judging process. “Virtual submissions, our panel of jurors, posting their films online, and having a viewer’s choice vote has not changed at all – this was virtual, to begin with,” Sinski said. “This year, we have a panel of three NCHS alumni adjudicating the entries. The awards, including the viewer’s choice awards, will be announced on Friday, June 5th, during the NCTV broadcast.”
As for the types of submissions, Sinki says she sees a trend in social awareness and a breath of fresh air in the storytelling department. “It’s embedded either literally or metaphorically into many of the submissions,” she said. “Students are spending a lot of time in the writing and planning phases of movie-making – which is important! The scripts that you will see and hear are outstanding for high school productions.”
Sinski is excited that the department can continue with the New Age Film Festival, despite the circumstances. “I’d like to thank all of the students, in our district, and the other participating schools, who worked so hard to make their films and participate in our festival this year!” she said. “I’d also like to thank the NCHS Film Club and NCTV for their hard work and collaboration with getting the word out there.”
Junior and filmmaker Claudia Stanley submitted a short film titled Fine. “My film follows a girl answering questions in an interview. Behind her are projections of the opposite of what she is describing,” she said. “It’s showing how people lie when asked about their life.”
Claudia is adapting well to the changes in this year’s film festival. “It’s challenging trying to make things online, but I think Mrs. Sinski found a great balance,” Claudia said. “The voting process and the judging will all be the same, but the announcements will be made over NCTV rather than in-person, which makes it still fun, though not what it used to be.”
Junior and filmmaker Ethan Jones directed a short film that starred classmates and friends. “For this year’s film festival, I submitted my most recent film, Photo Groove, about two boys on opposite sides of the social spectrum, one of which is on a mission to expose the wrongdoings of one of his rivals,” Ethan said. “On his journey, he runs into his classmate and finishes the job with him.”
Ethan found inspiration from famous writer-director Edgar Wright. “I was inspired by his fun, creative, dramatic, and funny filmmaking style,” he said. “I was inspired mostly by Baby Driver, which was one of the films that influenced my initial idea for this film. I wanted to capture a fun, lighthearted story centered around real characters, and I think that was achieved through the writing and the music especially.”
(Juror bios can be found here: https://ncps.digication.com/newagefilmfestival/meet-the-jurors).
(A list of awards can be found here: https://ncps.digication.com/newagefilmfestival/award-list)
