DON’T MISS NEW SHORTS FROM BALLARD’S AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKERS

Everyone is invited to a screening of new work by students in the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program. The Ballard Film Festival (BFF) will be on Saturday, February 7 and Friday, February 20 at 7 pm in the Ballard High School auditorium. The screening will feature short comedies and dramas, advertisements, news features, and documentaries. Tickets ($10 for adults and $5 for students) will be sold at the door. Films that first screen at the BFF routinely take honors at prestigious national and international film festivals and the Northwest Regional Emmy Awards.

Funds raised will benefit students in the Digital Filmmaking Program. Students in the program regularly travel to Los Angeles to tour college schools of film and television, visit program alumni enrolled in these colleges or working in the industry, and meet with film and television professionals. Students have visited Jason Cahill (Writers Guild of America Award winner for The Sopranos) to discuss screenwriting, and Visual Effects Supervisor Bill Powloski (Breaking Bad) to discuss special effects. Ticket sales and donations will make these trips possible for all accepted students and also provide additional production equipment.

BALLARD FILMMAKERS WIN AT FIVE-STATE FESTIVAL

Three short films by students from the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program are winners at Fresh Film Northwest. 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. Only 10 films were winners at this year’s festival. This is the tenth year in a row that students from Ballard’s Digital Filmmaking Program have been winners at the event.

The winning films include a visual story and two documentaries. The visual story Air Pressure, by Coleman Andersen, Leo Pfeifer & Josh Vredevoogd, is about a disaster at the World Balloon Animal Championship. The film has already been a winner in the Dominique Dunne Film Competition and been featured at the Chicago International Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, and the Northwest High School Film Festival. Clipped Wings, by Coleman Andersen, Duncan Gowdy & Leo Pfeifer, made its festival premiere at the Northwest Film Forum’s regional festival last month. The short documentary explores the impact of the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on Gays. (Clipped Wings has received over 100,000 views online. Check it out at https://vimeo.com/107528934 .) The festival jury also honored Clipped Wings with a Heart Award for “authenticity, originality, and humane treatment of a subject.” The other winning documentary is Raven Rock by Rachel Cole, Jaya Flanary & Meagen Tajalle. It concerns a treatment program that pairs survivors of childhood abuse with abused horses for mutual healing.

The Northwest Film Center also recognized Audio Input - a documentary about the Seattle podcasting scene by Duncan Boszko, Jack O’Neal, Piper Phillips & Sho Schrock – with an Honorable Mention. The festival selected only 5 films for this honor.

A jury of filmmakers and educators screened 80 entries from across the five state region to select winners for the festival. The festival seeks to celebrate “originality, freshness, authenticity, and conviction” in the voices of young filmmakers. The program will be screened and prizes awarded at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium on Saturday, November 8 at 1 pm. Filmmakers, film lovers, and families are welcome to attend. To see new work by BHS filmmakers, attend the Ballard Film Festival on Saturday, February 7 or Friday, February 20 at 7 pm in the BHS auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults or $8 for students. All proceeds support students in the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program.

BHS FILM TO BE FEATURED AT REGIONAL FESTIVAL

Three students in Ballard High School’s Digital Filmmaking Program will have their film featured at the Northwest Film Forum’s Local Sightings Film Festival. This festival is local in a regional sense, as it programs the best works by filmmakers from Oregon to Alaska. Clipped Wings, by Coleman Andersen, Duncan Gowdy and Leo Pfeifer is a short documentary that explores the impact of the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on Gays.

Clipped Wings will screen before Mind Zone – a documentary feature by Portland director Jan Haaken about therapists working in the 113th Army Combat Stress Control detachment. Their mission is contradictory: to protect soldiers from battle fatigue, and to keep these same soldiers in battle.

Clipped Wings and Mind Zone will screen this Sunday, September 28 at 7 pm. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit http://localsightings.nwfilmforum.org/ .

BHS FILMMAKERS WIN AT THE EMMY AWARDS

Five students in the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program won Awards of Excellence at the Northwest Regional Emmy Awards on June 7. Coleman Andersen, Leo Pfeifer and Josh Vredevoogd won best Short Form Fiction for their drama Air Pressure. Julian Amrine and Josh Vredevoogd won best Photographer/Editor for their drama Going it Alone. This is the third year in a row that these awards went to students from the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program.

The Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) presents High School Awards of Excellence to celebrate and promote the most outstanding high school productions from five Northwest states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. The awards are judged by the same professional organization that selects Emmy winners.

Eighteen other BHS filmmakers had also received nominations from the Academy this year.

BHS FILM FESTIVAL TO FEATURE AWARD-WINNING WORKS

Everyone is invited to a screening of films produced spring semester by students in the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program. The BHS Film Festival will be Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7 at 7 p.m. in the BHS auditorium. Included will be short comedies, dramas, news features, and documentaries. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and will be sold at the door. All proceeds benefit students in the Digital Filmmaking Program.

The festival will feature a variety of productions recently honored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences as well as international film festivals such as the Chicago International Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival. In addition, program alumni will return to share their stories and work they've produced in college or during their professional careers.

NORTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL FILM FESTIVAL HONORS BHS FILMMAKERS

Students in the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program have won 15 awards and honors across six different categories at the 16th annual Northwest High School Film Festival at the Cinerama Theater in downtown Seattle. This is the largest and longest running festival for high school filmmakers in the Puget Sound region. Twenty high schools from the Puget Sound region competed for awards in twelve different production categories.

Perhaps the biggest prize of the festival is the “J-Dogg” Scholarship. The award was established in 2011 by the family of Justin Amorratanasuchad, the gifted Ballard High School filmmaker whose career was tragically cut short by an accident during his second year of college. The memorial scholarship gives upwards of $5,000 each year toward the college education of a festival winner preparing to pursue a degree in film and television production. This year, the award was presented to BHS Digital Filmmaking senior Raven Two Feathers. In the fall, Raven will be studying film production at the Santa Fe University of Art & Design.

The festival was judged by a panel of industry professionals and college media professors. The event was organized by the Media Educators for Excellence Team (MEET) and sponsored by the Academy of Interactive Entertainment, Advanced Broadcast Solutions, the Art Institute of Seattle, Glazier's Camera, and Sanford-Brown College. For more information on the NWHSFF, visit www.nwhsff.weebly,org.

Some of the award-winning productions will be screened at the BHS Film Festival on Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7 at 7 p.m. in the BHS auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults and will be sold at the door.

Ballard’s Northwest High School Film Festival winners by category:

AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE

Comedic Narrative
Stuck in Time
Sage Borlo, Tor Randolph, Remy Robin

Commercial
Benito’s
Joseph Downey, Max McCann, Tor Randolph

Whizz Education
Julian Amrine, Stephanie Shao, Josh Vredevoogd

Dramatic Narrative
Air Pressure
Coleman Andersen, Leo Pfeifer

Music Video
Song for Anna
Lucy Harstrick, Isaiah Hoban-Halvorsen, Josh Vredevoogd, Kiana Wyld

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Comedic Narrative
A Taste of Courage
Carlos Caceres Martinez, Victoria O’Laughlin, Leo Pfeifer

Caf-Fiend
Jonny Cechony, Tristram Fetters, Simon Gibson-Penrose

Commercial
Don’t Drop the Bass
Milo Adams, Jonny Cechony, Nathan Roe

Music Video
A Day at Ballard High School
Jaya Flanary, Meagen Tajalle, Raven Two Feathers

Goodbye, Paraguay
Matt Nguyen, Sho Schrock, Stephanie Shao

News Feature
Real World Maritime
Danny Allen, Elliott Atkinson, Henry Romano-Weller

Public Service Announcement
The Bank
Leo Pfeifer, Auston Thompson

Deadly Education
Aurore Bouriot, Will Erstad, Sid Johnson

Words Matter
Ethan Ayrault, Kimi Rutledge, Kajsa Woolford

BALLARD HIGH SCHOOL FILM AT SIFF

BHS Filmmakers Leo Pfeifer and Coleman Andersen

The short film Air Pressure by Coleman Andersen and Leo Pfeifer, is an Official Selection of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). A visual story about a disaster at the World Balloon Animal Championships, it will screen at SIFF this Monday, May 26 at 1:30 pm at the Uptown Cinemas.

It will also screen at the BHS Film Festival on Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7 at 7 pm in the BHS auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults and will be sold at the door.

ACADEMY NOMINATES BALLARD HIGH SCHOOL FILMMAKERS

The Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has announced nominees for the Northwest High School Awards of Excellence. These awards celebrate the most outstanding productions from five Northwest states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Productions are nominated by NATAS industry professionals. Students from the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program earned eleven nominations, more than twice as many as any other school or organization in the five-state region. The winners will be announced on June 7 at the 51st Annual Regional Emmy Awards ceremony.

Ballard’s nominations span four categories, reflecting the diverse skills students learn in the program. These are the nominations by category.

Music Video:
Goodbye, Paraguay by Sho Schrock-Manabe, Matt Nguyen, Stephanie Shao & Elizabeth Turnell

Song for Anna by Josh Vredevoogd, Lucy Harstrick, Isaiah Hoban Halvorsen & Kiana Wyld

Photographer/Editor:
Caf-Fiend by Simon Gibson-Penrose, Tristram Fetters & Jonny Cechony

Going it Alone by Julian Amrine & Joshua Vredevoogd

Public Service Announcement:
The Bank by Leo Pfeifer & Auston Thompson

Short Form Fiction:
Air Pressure by Coleman Anderson, Leo Pfeifer & Josh Vredevoogd

Caf-Fiend by Simon Gibson-Penrose, Tristram Fetters & Jonny Cechony

Going it Alone by Julian Amrine & Josh Vredevoogd

The Need to Groove by Kyle Goodwin, Max Nelson & Jonny Cechony

Omar the Girl Scout by Coleman Anderson, Brian Cropp & Lindsay Fasser

Stuck in Time by Sage Borlo, Tor Randolph & Remy Robin

Three of the films nominated in the Short Form Fiction category were produced by students in their first year of the Digital Filmmaking Program. In the Photographer/Editor category, all the nominees were Ballard High School students.

One of the nominated productions, along with other new works completed this spring by students in the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program, will be screened at the Ballard High School Film Festival. This will take place on Friday, June 6th or Saturday, June 7th at 7 pm in the BHS auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults.

This makes the eighth year in a row that Ballard High School producers have been nominated. Last year they received 8 nominations and won the categories of Community/Public Service Announcement, Long Form, Fiction and Photographer/Editor.

BALLARD FILMMAKERS WIN NFFTY AWARDS

Two short films by students in the Ballard High School Video Production Program were award winners at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). The festival featured 214 films from across the country by filmmakers 21 and younger. Many of the featured works were produced by college students from such prestigious schools of film & television as the University of Southern California and New York University, so there was no shortage of competition.

Song for Anna by Lucy Harstrick, Isaiah Hoban-Halvorsen, Josh Vredevoogd & Kiana Wyld won the Audience Award of the Musical Masterpiece program. Song for Anna had previously won the Merit Award from the prestigious YoungArts Organization, and had also been named an Official Selection of the Chicago International Film Festival, where it will be screened next week.

Ballard filmmakers also distinguished themselves in NFFTY’s 48-Hour Film Off. In this festival event, high school media production programs of the Puget Sound area compete to produce the best short in 48 hours. To ensure that no pre-production has been done before the competition starts, teams were given a key line of spoken dialogue, a theme, and a prop that must be prominently featured in the short. The prop this year was a hydroplane, so teams had to be particularly resourceful and creative. Jonny Cechony, Will Erstad, Simon Gibson-Penrose, Elizabeth Rosario and Raven Two Feathers represented Ballard High School, and their short Just Plane Lucky took 2nd Prize in the competition.

Just Plane Lucky will screen at the Ballard Film Festival on Friday and Saturday, June 7th and 8th at 7 pm in the Ballard High School auditorium. Admission is $5 for students and $10 for adults.

NFFTY TO FEATURE SHORTS BY BALLARD HIGH SCHOOL FILMMAKERS

Four short films by thirteen students in the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program have been named Official Selections of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). This competitive festival showcases outstanding work by filmmakers age 22 and younger. NFFTY is a rare opportunity for high school students to share the spotlight with college students from our nation’s best film schools. This year NFFTY will feature 214 films from 30 states and 15 countries. Screeners made the selections from a pool of 800 entries. NFFTY opens at the Seattle Cinerama Theater on Thursday, April 24 and continues through Sunday, April 27 at the Seattle Center.
These short films by Ballard High School film students have been selected for screening.

Song for Anna by Lucy Harstrick, Isaiah Hoban-Halvorsen, Josh Vredevoogd & Kiana Wyld

Stop Pretending by Marlene Anderson, Khasbold Bataa, Gabe Fabens, Zach Green & Lorenzo Rossi

Then & Now by Enjuli Chhaniara (’13), Dayan Flynn-Walsh (’13) & Ana Krafchick (’13)

Also selected was A Sleeping Giant, produced independently by Ballard film student Leo Pfeifer.

BHS also has a team competing in the 48-hour Film Off. Teams from ten high schools have two days to produce a short from start to finish. The winner (selected in part by the audience) will win funds for their school’s production program. You can catch the 48-Hour Film Off – and cast your vote - on Saturday, April 26 at 1:30 pm at the SIFF Uptown 1.

In addition to screenings and awards, NFFTY includes forums on filmmaking. For a complete schedule of events, show times, and ticket information, visit www.nffty.org.

NFFTY itself is the brainchild of Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking alumnus Jesse Harris (’04). Harris made history in 2004 when Living Life, the feature film he had written and directed as a senior project, was purchased by FilmMates and given a theatrical release. (It opened in Seattle in April, 2005.) The festival was co-founded by Harris, Kyle Seago (’07) – a Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking student at the time - and Jocelyn RC (Bellevue High School, ’07). A growing list of sponsors and partners paved the way for this eighth annual event.

A Day at Ballard High School

DON'T MISS NEW SHORTS FROM BALLARD'S AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKERS

Everyone is invited to a screening of new work by students in the Ballard High School Video Production Program. The Showing will be on Saturday, February 8 and Thursday, February 13 at 7 pm in the Ballard High School auditorium. The screening will include short comedies and dramas, advertisements, news features, and music videos. Some of the work has recently won regional and national awards. Tickets ($10 for adults and $5 for students) will be sold at the door.

Funds raised will benefit students in the Video Production Program. Each spring, students in the program travel to Los Angeles to tour college schools of film and television, visit program alumni enrolled in these colleges or working in the industry, and meet with film and television professionals. Your ticket purchase or donation will make this trip possible for all accepted students and provide additional production equipment.