Thursday, September 28, 2017

ACADEMY NOMINATES BALLARD FILM STUDENTS FOR NATIONAL PRODUCTION AWARDS


The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has nominated students in Ballard High School’s Digital Filmmaking Program for four National Student Production Awards.  NATAS industry professionals and university professors selected the nominees from 1,500 entries produced by students throughout the nation.       

Nominated for best Long Form Non-Fiction is 9066, a documentary about the internment of US citizens of Japanese ancestry during WWII by Maya Konz, Bailey Wall, Kajsa Woolford and Nolan Baker.  Nominated for best Short-Form Fiction, best Writer, and best Audio/Sound is Comeback by Skala Leake, Aaron Miller, Cameron Miller & Avery Davis.  Comeback is a story of a soccer player coping with a life-altering setback.  The nominated productions can be viewed online at www.vimeo.com/bhsfilmprogram. 

The awards presentation will be live-streamed from the Los Angeles campus of Emerson College on Tuesday, October 3rd at noon, and will be hosted by television personality Tom Bergeron, star and host of AVC’s Dancing with the Stars.  You can view the presentation at https://www.facebook.com/TheEmmys.

The Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has presented High School Awards of Excellence for years to celebrate and promote the most outstanding high school television productions from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.  The Academy created a national level for these awards just last year, and Ballard filmmakers won best Music Video and best Photographer/Editor.  This year, the four nominations place Ballard in the lead among national nominees from the Northwest Chapter.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL TO SCREEN WORK BY BHS FILMMAKERS

Eight films by twenty-seven students in the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program will screen this fall at the All American High School Film Festival (AAHSFF).  This competitive festival receives entries from high school filmmakers throughout the country as well as other nations.  The event runs October 6 - 8 in New York City at the Center for Social Innovation, AMC Theatres Times Square, and the historic Kings Theater. 

Prestigious judges such as screenwriter Diablo Cody, documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, and actors Kristen Stewart and Dylan McDermott evaluated the films.  Official Selections are eligible for prizes presented at the Teen Indie Awards at the conclusion of the festival.

In addition to the Official Selections, a short documentary that Ballard film students produced for IMAX and the United Nations will also screen at the festival.  Only five high school filmmaking programs in the nation were chosen by IMAX and the AAHSFF to create these projects.  Ballard was selected due to the quality work BHS film students have brought to the AAHSFF on a regular basis.  (Ballard films have been finalists for top awards such as Best PSA, Best Documentary, Best Directing, Best Screenplay, Best Drama and Best Overall Film.)  The documentary is titled On the Backs of Salmon and was produced for IMAX by Chris Barrett, Martin Bolivar Caroline Harader, Jasper Land, Maddie Lausted, Freeman Marshall, Aaron Miller, Cecilia O’Rollins, & Miles Whitworth.     

Here, by category, are the Official Selections by Ballard High School’s Digital Filmmaking students.

DOCUMENTARY
Fat Friday by Chris Barrett, Jessica Luecke & Zoe Zillig

Heart of Gold by Miles Andersen, Willow Hudson, Josh Gaynor-Cote & Jesse Romero

Transformative by Mo Brown, Claire Elliott, Krystelle Kurz & Sorcha Maron

DRAMA
Clover Four Confidence by Annabelle Bowman-Mohn, Josh Gaynor-Cote & Brynn Miller

Frozen in Debt by Annabelle Bowman-Mohn, Bergen Johnson, Cecilia O’Rollins & Miles Whitworth

Horror/Sci Fi/Fantasy
Richard by Ian Colbeck, Ethan Hawthorne-Dallas, Aaron Mamaril & Wylie Soltes


One film produced independently by BHS film students also made the festival:  Solo by Elliott Atkinson and Zach Boone is an Official Selection in the Horror/Sci Fi/Fantasy category.