On Saturday, November 17, four productions by students in the BHS Video Production Program were winners of Fresh Film Northwest at the Portland Art Museum. This competitive regional festival is coordinated by the Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon. It accepts entries from filmmakers ages 13 to 19 in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Every winning entry from Washington involved Ballard High School students.
After their work was screened for the festival audience, each student received a Creative Self-Expression Award for outstanding achievement in cinematic storytelling. The BHS winners were the documentaries Deep Down (by Isaiah Hoban-Halvorsen, Kaila Lafferty & Oona Lowe) and My Little Brony (by Vann Fulfs, Taylor Martin & Bryan Quandt) as well as the short drama Dream House (by Ariahna Ghormley, Ana Krafchick & Louis Weissman). Also, Ballard video students Dayan Flynn-Walsh, Vann Fulfs, Ana Krafchick, John Paul Umbao and Isaiah Hoban-Halvorsen joined others to create the winning short Love at First Bite while Isaiah worked as Education Assistant at 911 Media Arts last summer.
A jury of filmmakers and educators screened more than 120 entries to select 14 works for the festival. Only eight of these received the Creative Self-Expression Award. The festival seeks to celebrate originality, freshness, authenticity, and conviction in the voices of young filmmakers. According to the jurors, “We are left in awe and with the feeling that the world is going to be all right.” This is the eighth year in a row that students in the BHS Video Production Program have been winners at the event.
To see new work by BHS filmmakers, attend our end-of-the-semester Showing on Friday, February 8 or Friday, February 22 at 7 pm in the BHS auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults or $8 for students. All proceeds support the BHS Video Production Program.
