When the envelopes were opened at Emerson College in Los Angeles
on Oct. 18, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced
that students from Ballard High School’s Digital Filmmaking Program had won three National Student Production Awards.
Best Short Form Non-Fiction film went to On the Backs of Salmon, by Chris Barrett, Martin Bolivar, Caroline Harader, Jasper Land, Maddie
Lausted, Freeman Marshall, Aaron Miller, Cecilia O’Rollins, and Miles
Whitworth. The documentary is about the
struggle of the Elwha people to remove the dam that flooded their creation site
and blocked the salmon essential to their way of life. The students produced the film for IMAX, and
it premiered at the United Nations’ World Environment Day. Best Short Form Fiction film and best Editing
went to Bottled Emotions by Zach Boone, PJ Hase, Aidan Jereczek and Bailey Wall. Set in an alternate reality, it concerns a
dealer in stolen emotions who has a crisis of conscience. It premiered at the All American High SchoolFilm Festival in New York City last fall.
This is the third year NATAS has given student awards at the
national level, and the third year Ballard film students have been among the
winners. Only a minority of regional winners
from 19 Academy chapters across the country are nominated at the national level. In addition to the 3 winners, Ballard’s
Digital Filmmaking students were also nominated for best Long Form Non-Fiction
film (Oso Strong by Maddie Lausted and Freeman Marshall), best
Writing (Richard, writing by Wylie Soltes) and best
Audio/Sound (Paul, Dark, and Handsome, audio by Cole Kastner). The films were judged by members of the
Academy. All the honored Ballard films
can be viewed on the Digital
Filmmaking Program’s vimeo page.
For more information, and to screen the awards presentation, visit http://emmyonline.com/nationalstudent.
All of Ballard’s honored productions were first screened at the
Ballard Film Festival (BFF). The next
BFF will be on Saturday, February 9 at 7 pm in the BHS auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for
adults, and will be sold at the door.
