Three short films produced by
students in 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. This is the thirteenth year in a row that
students from Ballard’s Digital Filmmaking Program have been among the winners.
The winning films include a documentary,
an animation piece, and a short comedy.
The documentary 9066, by Maya
Konz, Bailey Wall, Kajsa Woolford, and Nolan Baker, tells the story of the
internment of US citizens of Japanese ancestry during WWII. The film has already won numerous awards,
including First Prize at the Dominique Dunne Film Competition, best Long Form Non-Fiction
in the student division at the Northwest Emmy Awards, and an Award of
Excellence in Documentary at the Northwest High School Film Festival.
In the short comedy, Richard
(by Wylie Soltes, Ian Colbeck, Ethan Hawthorne-Dallas, and Aaron Mamaril) a stolen
tool kit creates a bond between two strangers with little in common. Richard premiered at the AllAmerican High School Film Festival in New York City last month. Also among the winners is the short Tidal
Cruiser, produced independently by Ballard film student Brendan Hickey.
A jury of filmmakers and educators
screened over one hundred entries from across the five state region to select
winners for the festival. The winners will be screened at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium this
Saturday, November 4 at 11 am. Admission
is free and the public is welcome to attend.
Ballard film students also received an Honorable Mention for their experimental short City 'Scape by Brendan Hickey, Jonathan Bowers and Gracie Morris.
