Each year, the National YoungArts Foundation (www.youngarts.org) identifies and supports
young talent in the areas of music, theater, visual arts, photography, writing,
and cinematic arts. This year, YoungArts
received portfolio submissions from over 12,000 young artists nationwide – their
most competitive year ever. These were
evaluated through a blind adjudication process by a nationally and
internationally renowned panel of judges, master teachers, and artists. The
results, announced this month, identify four students from the Ballard High
School Digital Filmmaking Program as winners in Cinematic Arts - more than any
other school save the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, which also
had four winning film students.
Ballard’s winning filmmakers are Coleman Andersen, Leo
Pfeifer, Sho Schrock-Manabe and Meagen Tajalle.
YoungArts winners receive cash awards, validation by renowned mentors, and
opportunities to participate in YoungArts programs in Los Angeles, Miami and
New York City.
Coleman Andersen (’15) achieved the highest possible
YoungArts ranking – that of Finalist. He
had entered his dramatic short Stolen, which he produced with Leo
Pfeifer during his senior year at BHS.
The short has previously won Best Drama prizes at the Chicago
International Film Festival’s CineYouth event and the All American High School
Film Festival in New York City. It also
won National Student Television Awards of Excellence for Short Form Fiction and
Writing at the Northwest Emmy Awards last spring. Coleman is currently a freshman in the film
program at New York University.
Leo Pfeifer, a senior at BHS, is a YoungArts Merit Winner
for his documentary Clipped Wings, (produced with Coleman Andersen and Duncan Gowdy). This examination of the ban on gays by the
Boy Scouts of America has also seen festival success, including an Audience
Award at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth, 1st Prize in
the Documentary category at the 2015 Dominique Dunne Film Competition, and National
Student Television Awards of Excellence for Best Long Form Non-fiction and Photographer/Editor
at the Northwest Emmy Awards. Leo plans
to study filmmaking in college next year.
Sho Schrock-Manabe (’15) is a YoungArts Merit Winner for his
music video Hologram, (produced during his senior year at BHS with Miles
Andersen, Emily Black, Sophie DeGreen, and Jesse Romero). The narrative music video contrasts the
challenges of art and life. It recently
won Best of Show at the Eppfilms & Artistic by Design Center 2015 Film
& Photography Showcase in Cleveland. Sho is currently a freshman in the Creative
Producing program at Chapman University.
Meagen Tajalle, a senior at BHS, is a YoungArts Merit Winner
for her documentary Raven Rock, (produced with Rachel Cole and Jaya Flanary). The film examines a treatment program that
pairs survivors of childhood abuse with rescued horses for mutual healing. It was previously a winner at Fresh Film
Northwest (a regional festival inviting competition from five Northwest states)
and also took 2nd Prize in the Documentary category at the 2015
Dominique Dunne Film Competition. Meagen
plans to study filmmaking in college.
All these productions can be seen on the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program's vimeo page at www.vimeo.com/bhsfilmprogram .
