WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Ashley Russell, Class of 2006
 

Like most teenagers, I was trying to figure out what I was good at, what I wanted to do, and frankly, what I was going to study once I graduated High School. I had tried various creative outlets: writing, music, theater, dance- but nothing fit. For a while I was doubting my creativity, my urge to be imaginative and share my thoughts with the world.  I seriously contemplated a more practical course of study…which, if you knew me, would have been the equivalent of Alice Cooper in a suit and tie, heading to a 9-5 job.

But luckily, I was haunted by an opportunity. During my freshman year history class, the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program debuted a series of short videos completed by their students.  Watching these shorts, I realized I wanted to document and create stories about all the things I loved, and what better and more creative way to do so than with a camera?

I spent my Sophomore and Junior years in the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program, learning everything I could about making movies. I produced narratives, news pieces, music videos, and Public Service Announcements (PSA’s). Some of these projects received international attention. A music video project entitled The Drive Thru won the Seattle InternationalFilm Festival’s FutureWave Audience Award in 2006, and in 2005, MTV & OneWorld held a contest for high school students to complete a PSA regarding the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Our video, Get Tested, Get Educated, received worldwide status on the MTV/OneWorld website as a runner-up in the competition.

Toward the end of my Junior year, I wanted to take advantage of the Running Start program, and enrolled at Seattle Central College. Believe it or not, it had not hit me yet that I wanted to be a filmmaker, long term. I still had no idea what I was going to do or where I was going to go after High School – which was frightening, and curiously enough, even more stifling. 

During a cultural anthropology class I was taking at SCC, a woman named Debbie Guerrero came and spoke to our class about her native culture, beliefs, personal history, and background. Through her speech and words of wisdom, she breathed a ray of hope and inspiration into me. I instantly knew I wanted to make a documentary about her, and from that realization came another, that I wanted to be a filmmaker. That’s how I saw the world. I didn’t want to paint, write, draw, or act out my inspirations- I wanted to make movies about them, and in turn inspire others. 

Luckily, SCC had a 2-year Film and TV Production program, which I immediately applied for. I was accepted to start Fall 2006, following my June 2006 high school graduation. I spent my time at SCC making short films, documentaries (I finally got to make my piece about Debbie), and learning everything I could about filmmaking as an art and as an industry. A handful of the films I made in school have been in local film festivals, including The Girls at The Northwest FilmForum’s 2008 Local Sightings Film Festival.

The first film I worked on out of school was Dear Lemon Lima as the Wardrobe Supervisor, which awakened my love of design and paired it with my love of filmmaking. Since then I have worked for the costume department on various productions from assistant to designer. Some of my costume credits include Costume Designer for season 2 & 3 of the Syfy TV series, Z Nation, Costume Designer for Matthew Lillard’s directorial debut, Fat Kid Rules the World, Key Costumer for Courtney Hoffman on Captain Fantastic & Costume Design Assistant to Audrey Fisher for the pilot of the Amazon TV Series, The Man in the High Castle. My most recent Costume Design project was in Little Rock, Arkansas on the indie film Antiquities which should reach film festival audiences in 2017.

Looking back on what has guided my success in the film industry- separate from the creative support from my family- are two very direct and early influences, one being Mr. Lawrence and the digital filmmaking classes at BHS, the second being the unintentional influence of Debbie Guerrero. They both taught me how to find what inspires me. As a Costume Designer I have such a direct influence on how the audience sees the characters that it’s got me hooked…latched on to that feeling of successfully conveying an idea: whether it be a costume, a character, or a story. I love being intricately involved in writing who the characters are- purely through the design of the costume- and in turn, inspiring others.

www.rusashley.com

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Jesse Harris, Class of 2004

At only 24 Jesse Harris, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY NNFTY), is leading the next generation of young and talented filmmakers. Variety agrees, and named Jesse Harris one of 25 talents who transformed youth entertainment in 2009 for his work at NFFTY.

Jesse was born and raised in Seattle and began making films in childhood. During his three years in the Ballard High School Video Production Program, Jesse won twelve awards and honors at regional and national youth film festivals. These included prizes in narrative, documentary, and news production. However, his most memorable accomplishment was his senior project: the feature length drama Living Life that he wrote and directed at the age of 17. The film tells the story of a teenage boy battling cancer and how he changes other people’s lives in the process of reconciling himself to his illness.

Choosing to live his dream as a filmmaker, Jesse financed Living Life through funds raised by rallying friends, family, local organizations and using a majority of his college fund. Jesse hired "the best in the business" using a professional Seattle-based crew and actors to film the production between his junior and senior years of high school.

His efforts paid off. In 2004, Living Life was one of 20 features invited to be part of the annual lFP New York Film Market. It was also an Audience Award winner at the 2004 Orinda Film Festival. That same year Jesse was a semi-finalist for the IFP Spirit Award "Someone to Watch."

Jesse then partnered with FilmMates Entertainment for completion and distribution of Living Life, becoming the youngest known American director to obtain multi-city theatrical release and distribution of a feature film. Living Life was theatrically released in April 2005 and bought by HBO Central Europe and TV in Israel. Vivendi Visual Entertainment purchased Living Life for DVD distribution.

As a result of his experience making, releasing and distributing his own film, Jesse decided to create an organization to support other young filmmakers. In 2007 Jesse co-founded The National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY), a new film festival and non-profit organization to support young filmmakers 22 and under. The first sponsor of the festival was Volvo Cars of North America, which became involved after Jesse produced a commercial for the Volvo C30.

Jesse continues to pursue filmmaking and is currently working on a variety of projects. Film and commercial clips can be seen at:
http://www.youtube.com/jesselharris

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Aaron Morse, Class of 2006

Since graduating from Ballard in 2006, I've been attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. I'm a junior on the broadcast track in the Medill School of Journalism. Outside of class, I'm the co-sports director of 89.3 FM WNUR, the largest student radio station in the country. I am also a contributor to the Emmy winning television show "Sports Night" on the Northwestern News Network.

WNUR was basically the reason I went to Northwestern in the first place. Ever since I realized I couldn't be a major league baseball player, my goal has been to be a baseball broadcaster. The thing that attracted me to WNUR was that freshmen were eligible to do baseball play by play. WNUR does live play by play of every Northwestern football game, all home men's basketball games and select road games, all home and all conference women's basketball games, as well as baseball, softball, and lacrosse in the spring.

Last spring I was chosen as the new co-sports director along with my friend Andrew Gothelf. As sports directors, we are responsible for all broadcast assignments, maintaining relations with our corporate donors, and requesting credentials and ordering all necessary phone and ISDN lines for road broadcasts. One of our main focuses has been the upgrade of our web-site under Web Director Adam Pumm. We're very proud of the site now, as it's a destination for audio and feature stories about the Northwestern Wildcats, as well as a place where fans can listen to all broadcasts online. You can find us at http://sports.wnur.org.

One of the perks of being co-sports director is that we get to go to the biggest event of the year for NU: The Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. The Northwestern football team went 9-3 this year (I was on play by play for the Duke, Iowa, Purdue, and Michigan games, all of which were wins), and now they play Missouri in the Alamo Bowl. Road trips in general are really fun, because it's all paid for by either the Athletic Department or the station, but this is the road trip of road trips! We're looking to be the first WNUR crew to be on the call for a Wildcat victory in a bowl game. The last NU bowl victory was 1949, a year before WNUR existed.

When I'm not at Northwestern in the summer, I've been broadcasting baseball. After my freshman year, I went to Alaska and was the broadcaster and sports information director for the Fairbanks Fire of the Alaska Baseball League. The Fire won the league title on the last day of the season! It was their first title in franchise history. However, the Fire don't have that many resources, so that was a volunteer job. After taking last summer off after a brief stint in the Cape Cod League, I am going back to Alaska this summer, except this time I'm getting paid. The man who runs the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks heard my work from two years ago and recruited me back to the 49th state for another summer. The Goldpanners pay for everything and I get to work with a good friend of mine from the staff of WNUR.

Currently, I am taking TV News Producing, which is the most advanced broadcast class Medill has to offer. Guess what? We use incredibly similar cameras to the ones I used at BHS! The only difference is that these cameras are HD cameras and we don't use tapes. (We use P2 cards.) I'm already ahead in the class because I have a thorough understanding of how to use these cameras. Our first assignment in TV News Producing was to create a "sequence" of 15 shots. The basics of visual storytelling from my time in Ballard’s Video Production Program came right back to me and I completed the entire project in less than a day. I find the basics of how to make a video to be all review. What the Ballard High School video production program is offering students is excellent preparation for the broadcast classes at one of the premier universities in the country.

For those looking for a University that excels at both academics and athletics, Northwestern is the ideal place to go for school. Northwestern is the only school that boasts a top 15 US News and World Report ranking AND a top 25 football program. It's been an amazing experience so far, and the best is yet to come. I encourage all students to seriously look at NU as a possible destination for college.

DON'T MISS "THE SHOWING" PREMIERE

Everyone is invited to a screening of new work by students in the Ballard High School Video Production Program. “The Showing” will be Thursday, January 28 at 7 p.m. in the Ballard High School auditorium. Included will be news features, advertisements, and short comedies and dramas. Admission is free, but there is a suggested $5.00 donation. Be sure to arrive early. Prior screenings have filled the auditorium and people have been turned away.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

 

Brendan McCarthy, Class of 2004

I enrolled in the Ballard Video Production Program immediately upon hearing of its existence, my junior year. Over the course of two years in the program I met cherished friends (some of whom have become colleagues), received an unparalleled public school education in film, and made of number of award winning films of which I am still proud (Eight, The Devoted, Moons Over My Hammy).

After graduating from Ballard, based largely on the strength of my film Eight, I was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts film program at New York University. The school loomed large over my ego; I was terrified of its pedigree, its staff, and my fellow students. However, during my first semester I entered Eight in the How We Got Here festival, a showcase of Freshman work produced in high school. When it won, I was off and running. Early on I met my best friend and writing partner, Erich Sutterlin, with whom I continue to have a fruitful partnership. Largely due to our thin wallets, we turned to writing, paper and ink being a lot cheaper than cameras and film. We won a script writing contest at the end of our Freshman year, an exciting accomplishment. We became hired guns, writing scripts for upperclassmen and graduate students willing to spend ludicrous sums of money on their productions. It was a magical three and a half years. I knew where I was going, I felt successful, and I was a young man in New York. Then...I graduated.

After a short stint writing commercials in New York (yuck!) I moved to Los Angeles (double yuck!) where I worked briefly writing for a production company that works in reality television (kill me). The Los Angeles experiment, though, was not a total waste. Erich and I met our manager there, an incredibly talented and energetic former partner at ROAR. We still work with him and share representation. I also sold some stage work to a small theater company in New York and got to go back for a short period of time to work things out. I realized I had to return to New York for good. After trying for many months to land a decent gig, I heard back from a producer friend of mine that I have a position on Boardwalk Empire, a Martin Scorsese production for HBO.

BALLARD HIGH SCHOOL FILMMAKERS RECOGNIZED BY INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS

The short comic film Gourmandizing by Levi Friedman & Matt Law-Phipps, has been named an Official Selection of the 10th Annual River Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The festival is the largest film festival in Brazil and Latin America. Each year, major films of the Cannes, Sundance, Venice, Berlin, and Australian film festivals are presented to the public during the event. The festival also features films by youth 18 and younger. It has a distinguished history of showcasing the early work of young filmmakers who have gone on to successful film careers.

This year, the festival received 143 entries from youth in Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Italy, the United States and Canada. The festival committee contacted Levi and invited him to enter his films after they saw his student Emmy-winning PSA Don’t Spill (produced with Ryan Zemke & Jacob Kutrakun) on You Tube. The festival opens on September 25 and continues through October 8. For more information, just click on the headline to visit the festival website.

This marks the second time this year that Ballard video students have had their films requested by international film festivals. In May, Diana Federighi, Kaelan Gilman & Del Brummet were contacted by the Seoul International Youth Film Festival and invited to exhibit their award-winning short film Unplugged.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

KYLE SEAGO, Class of 2007 (with Robin Williams)

In May of 2007, after three extremely productive years in the Ballard high School video productions program, I was accepted into Loyola Marymount University’s film school, arguably the 3rd best undergraduate film school in Los Angeles. An honor? Yes. Exciting? Absolutely. A dreadful commitment to spending upwards of $160,000 in order to receive a piece of paper that may have nothing to do with making movies? No question.

I arrived at LMU in the Fall of 2007, and I quickly noticed that I was far ahead of the curve. While most students were searching for a camera’s record button I was logging tapes of footage that my friends and I had shot. As every one else sat through hour upon hour of analytical cinema courses – creating classrooms full of “artists” and “auteurs” – I spent my days working on projects and learning the ins and outs of being on set with the people I would be working with in the future, not the aging professors who hadn’t worked on a set since the Cold War.

Because of the foundation set by Mr. Lawrence and the BHS Video Production Program, I was able to navigate my way around a set like a mouse in a cheese maze. Although I started out working as a production assistant, I quickly gained a reputation as “the kid who never sleeps” because I was constantly working. By December, I was receiving offers to produce senior and graduate thesis films and work on outside, paid projects. Although I had entered school wanting to study cinematography, my interests shifted towards producing once I realized I could spend other people’s money and get away with it!

In the spring of 2008, I produced two major senior thesis films. They ended up screening at festivals such as the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and The SXSW Film and Video Festival. Through producing these projects, I was introduced to the person who drafted the blueprints on how to produce films at LMU – Dane Lillegard. We began to co-produce projects together, completing two commercials and a short film by July. I then returned home to work on a feature film in Seattle starring Robin Williams, called World’s Greatest Dad. I could go on for days about how working on this film helped to jump-start my career. It was a tremendous experience working on a quality indie film with an amazing cast and crew. Working on the film proved to me that the best way to learn about the industry is to be embedded in the industry. While you can learn in the classroom, you can experience through hands-on work.

After completing World’s Greatest Dad, I went back down to LA for my second year of school. However, upon arrival, I came to the conclusion that LMU and the film school life in general was probably not the best investment of my time, hard work, and money. My situation was somewhat unique, I had made numerous contacts in the previous 4 years of doing film work and decided to bypass my final three years of school and enter the industry.

Fortunately, my plan worked out (for the most part). I was able to land a few gigs – one on a TV show for MTV and another on an indie feature in LA – and in the time I wasn’t working on set, I was putting in time with Dane trying to develop a new production/finance company.

As a result of the economic downturn, most studios have stopped making the 10-30 million dollar films and are putting most of their faith in the larger, “tent-pole” movies such as Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean. This is due to the fact that when studios make smaller-budget movies, their production values fall off dramatically because, as studios, they are still under contract to pay their actors exorbitant salaries. When a smaller production company, such as Lions Gate or Overture Films, makes a $20 million dollar movie they can make it look like they spent $100 million because they can pay the cast less and don’t have any studio overhead costs.

This is where the idea for IPE, the company I currently work for, came from. IPE, which stands for Inner Primary Entertainment, is an executive production and finance company. In a nutshell, IPE accepts packaged projects – scripts that have big actors/directors/producers attached. We then present the projects to various investors we have relations with and act as the investor’s advocate. We do full analysis of every project we greenlight, conducting foreign and domestic market research to outline every return on investment scenario for the investor, fully vetting every script as to its creative and financial potential, and all the while being fully transparent so that all potential investors see all of the pros and cons of each project they may choose to invest in.

It all sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. We basically present a project to an investor, and if they like it and think they can make money from it, they pay for it. Then we oversee production and make sure the film stays on budget, that the budget is being spent properly and then, once the film is distributed, that the investor recoups their investment and begins to make money.

The job is great, one that no 20-year-old (including me) should ever be blessed with. It’s a lot of work, but it’s the kind of thing I love to do. I love being entrenched in the business, learning new things everyday. I’m learning more than I ever could have learned in film school, and I’m actually getting paid for it. And I can honestly say, I wouldn’t be at this position in life or anywhere near here if the foundation for my career hadn’t been built in the BHS Video Program. I’m very fortunate to have been exposed to that kind of film industry education at a young age, which has allowed me to already achieve some of the goals I had set for myself. There’s still a lot of work yet to be done, but because of the chances I’ve been given, navigating the road ahead will be a lot more manageable.

BALLARD FILM STUDENTS WIN REGIONAL FESTIVAL

Three productions by students in the BHS Video Production Program are among the winners of the 33rd Annual Young People’s Film & Video Festival. The winners are the short dramas Finding the Music (by Sheridan Koehler, Alex Scheller & Blair Scott) and The Umbrella (by Parker Davis, Kaelan Gilman & Henry Shenk) as well as the music video You Live in Your Head (by Alex Papac, Isaac Sommers & Kathryn Van Buren).

This competitive festival accepts entries from students in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Alaska. It is coordinated by the Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon. The Festival encourages young people to “use film and video to creatively express personal concerns, explore important social issues, and share engaging stories about the world as they see it.” Submissions were judged on the basis of age/grade, originality, artistic merit, technical achievement, and conviction in investigation of subject matter. A jury of professional media artists made the selections. Only 16 productions were chosen for the festival from over 100 entries.

The Festival Winners’ Program will be screened on Sunday, September 27 at 2 p.m. at the Whitsell Auditorium of the Portland Art Museum (1219 SW Park, Portland, Oregon). The event is free, and the public is welcome to attend. The program will run approximately 2 hours. For more information, just click on the headline of this article to visit their website.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

MADISON MURPHY, Class of 2006

Madison Murphy graduated from BHS in 2006 after completing multiple films in the BHS Video Production Program. These included a documentary entitled Special Successes, about the special education program at BHS, which went on to be selected for the Young People's Film and Video Festival. After graduating, Madison attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. She will start her senior year this fall 2009 as a Film and Media Studies major with an emphasis on production, and a Sociology minor.

At Occidental, Madison has participated in many different critical theory and production classes. During her sophomore year, she produced two senior thesis films. Over the past three years Madison has worked on twelve different student productions in a variety of roles including producer, director, and editor. This past spring, Madison helped coordinate the Oxy Film Festival on campus. She is a campus tour and a co-director of Delevan Drive, a program that works with special education students to complete art projects each week.

Interested in critical film theory as well as production, Madison presented her paper, Miss Jane Austen Fan, 269 Videos and Counting: An Examination of Jane Austen Fan Videos on YouTube at the Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research this past fall. In the spring of her junior year, she completed a project entitled Embodying a Dirty Dancing Cinderella: The Celebration and Expansion of the Cinderella Myth through Wedding Dance Videos on YouTube examining wedding dance videos posted by couples, who mimic the iconic last dance in Dirty Dancing. This fall Madison will pursue honors for her senior comprehensives, completing both a short film and a thirty page paper focused on the Cinderella Myth in fan romance videos posted on YouTube.

Madison is living in Los Angeles for the summer. She worked as a development intern at Laura Ziskin Productions, housed at Sony Studios for two months before being accepted into the competitive Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Internship Program in Casting. Through this internship, Madison is working in both a commercial and theatrical casting office.

After graduation next May, Madison plans to take a year off of school to intern at various production companies before applying for a Marshall Fellowship and/or applying to grad schools to earn her MFA in Film Production. Madison plans on working as a producer in film and television. "The BHS Video Department is an amazing place to learn the skills to make quality productions. I am SO GLAD that my education in film production started at BHS. Anyone who gets to learn from Mr. Lawrence is extremely lucky!"

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

SARAH RICCI, Class of 2005

Sarah Ricci recognized her passion for filmmaking through Ballard High School's Media and TV Production classes. She was able to hone her production skills during an internship through Ballard High School’s Video Production Program at SCAN TV. This valuable experience led to a part-time position, and Sarah has been a Production Facilitator at SCAN since 2003. A few examples of Sarah’s accomplishments at SCAN are: developing and facilitating a summer internship program for Ballard High School students, creating PSA’s celebrating Black History Month, and working extensively with youth.

Sarah received her AA degree from Seattle Central Community College. During her time there she completed an internship at KCTS Channel 9, and assisted in producing a documentary in India. Sarah currently attends the University of Washington, studying Digital and Experimental Media. Her short films have screened at the Henry Art Gallery and The Grand Illusion. Over the summer Sarah worked on the MTV web series 5 Dollar Cover with Lynn Shelton, the director of Humpday.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

GEORGE WESTBERG, Class of 2006

I was a late starter at Ballard High School’s Video Production Program, only discovering it during my junior year when I enrolled in the introductory Media Issues and TV Production class. While I was initially interested in acting, the creative atmosphere and hands-on experience in crafting short news pieces, PSAs, and eventually silent movies got me excited about working on the other side of the camera. We spent countless hours pouring over the storyboards, focusing on how to tell a very simple story with techniques we studied (and attempted to imitate) from Hitchcock, Wells, and many other legendary filmmakers that I had never heard of before.

After my first semester, Mr. Lawrence offered to transfer me into his Advanced Video Production class, where I really started to feel that this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. Surrounded by like-minded and very talented people, and afforded the luxury of creative freedom to pick and craft our own stories in the way that we wanted to, I started to hone my eye and began producing and directing a series of shorts: the music video We Are the Champions, the caffeinated-comedy The Buzz, the documentary Soccer Dads, and the drama Bittersweet. These played at a variety of festivals, and won several awards (Bittersweet won a regional student Emmy). After graduating in 2006, I went to film school at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

I have started my senior year, graduating next spring with an undergraduate degree in Film & TV. A vague title for a major, I admit, but my main focus is in directing and sound design. I’m currently working as a freelance sound designer and editor for several student short films and interning with a local music producer in New York to learn more.

Last summer, I got together with a few friends and recruited some current Ballard video students to work on my most ambitious project to date: the time-traveling comedy Time Keeps on Skippin', which was screened at this year's National Film Festival for Talented Youth and Seattle True Independent Film Festival.

I am nearing completion of my first 16mm Color-Sync short film, Kiss Me, I'm English, which I hope to have finished in the next few months. After that, I will start planning and pre-production on my Advanced Production for a senior thesis short film. One of the most valuable lessons I learned from my brief time in the Ballard Video Program is that you can never spend too much time planning and scheduling to ensure that you can realize the movie you really want to make.

Ballard’s Video Production Program really gave me the skills, the encouragement, the knowledge, and the passion to pursue filmmaking in college and, hopefully, for the rest of my life. These became a springboard to explore the history and criticism of filmmaking, and to study the pioneers of our modern moviemaking language, like Truffaut, Bergman, Huston, Wilder, and countless others, to see how films are made, and to apply that knowledge to make my own. And most importantly, it taught me how to work with others, collaborating and functioning as part of a team, funneling all our strengths into making the best work possible.

About Teacher Matt Lawrence

Matt Lawrence earned his M.S. in educational television from the University of Wisconsin (where he was also a writer on the original staff of The Onion). He has won teaching awards and recognition from the Washington Association of Career & Technical Education, the Washington State PTA, ParentMap magazine, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the National YoungArts Foundation. He was a founding member of the Media Educators Excellence Team (an inter-district consortium of high school media educators in the Puget Sound region) and in 2011 was selected by members to be its first president.

In 2001, he founded the Digital Filmmaking Program at Ballard High School, where he taught until retiring in the summer of 2019.  His students won numerous prizes at prestigious film festivals and awards from the National YoungArts Foundation as well as many High School Awards for Excellence in a variety of categories at the northwest and national Emmy Awards. In 2009 he was elected to the Board of Governors (Northwest Region) of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and in 2023 the Academy inducted him into the Silver Circle.  These select professionals are chosen for their outstanding achievements and leadership.  He is the first Silver Circle inductee to be honored for their teaching at the secondary level.  

His twenty years of professional experience in radio, television, and film, include writing, videography, lighting, animation, audio recording, directing, technical directing, editing, sound design and scoring. He has worked for corporate as well as non-profit clients on studio and film-style productions.  His work has been shown at film festivals, art museums, and on cable and broadcast television.

BALLARD HIGH SCHOOL FILMMAKERS RECEIVE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

Unplugged, a short film by Ballard High School video production students Diana Federighi (’08), Kaelan Gilman (’10) & Del Brummet (’10), was recently named an Official Selection by the 11th Annual Seoul International Youth Film Festival. SIYFF is one of the largest and most prestigious youth film festivals in Asia. The event spans the week of July 9 – 15 and includes an international youth filmmaking camp.

The festival features films made by 13 – 18 year olds as well as films about children and teenagers made by adults. This year, 821 films were submitted from 44 different countries. Only 36 films were selected for the festival through a highly competitive process. For more information, just click on the headline to visit the festival website.

Unplugged is the story of a teen whose connection to music deepens after the loss of his iPod. The short had not originally been entered in SIYFF, but the festival committee saw the film on the Images of Youth Video Festival website and then contacted Ballard High School to request that the short be submitted. Unplugged had won awards for Special Recognition for Overall Excellence in Media and Peer Achievement from the Images of Youth Video Festival in 2008. (It can still be screened on that website under “past festival winners” at http://www.imagesofyouthfilmfestival.org/.) Unplugged was also named an Official Selection of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth this year.

BHS VIDEO STUDENTS WIN FESTIVAL AWARDS

Three works by Ballard High School Video Production students were prize-winners at the Images of Youth 2009 Video Festival. Don’t Spill by Levi Friedman, Jacob Kutrakun & Ryan Zemke is a Public Service Announcement for the Puget Sound Blood Center. The short film You Got Served, by Emily Deering, Bryce Ellis & Jose Anguiano, deals with the fragile nature of friendship. Another short film, The Umbrella, by Parker Davis, Kaelan Gilman & Henry Shenk, is the story of a withdrawn boy who uses his umbrella to shield himself from social interaction.

Each short won two awards: Special Recognition for Overall Excellence in Media (selected by the IOY festival jurors), and a Peer Achievement Award (selected by a jury of youth). The Images of Youth Video Festival is a project of Action for Media Education, a Seattle-based non-profit organization. Just click on the headline to see all the winning videos online at the Images of Youth 2009 Film Festival website.

AND THE WINNERS ARE... BALLARD VIDEO STUDENTS

Seven productions by Ballard High School video students won honors at the regional Emmy Awards on Saturday, May 30. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (the professional organization that judges the Emmy Awards) gives the National Student Television Awards to recognize the best in student television production. The regional awards celebrate the most outstanding productions from five northwest states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. This makes the third year in a row that Ballard High School video production students have been winners at the event.

Levi Friedman, Jacob Kutrakun & Ryan Zemke won an Award of Excellence in the Craft Achievement category for Don’t Spill, a Public Service Announcement they produced for the Puget Sound Blood Center. In the Public Affairs category, Kaelan Gilman, Annalee Millar & Will Livesley-O’Neill won an Award of Excellence for Climbing for a Cure, a piece about a climb to the top of the Columbia Tower to raise money in the fight against leukemia.

Five Ballard High School productions received Honorable Mentions (the equivalent of Emmy Nominations). Honored in the Dramatic Presentation category were The Umbrella by Parker Davis, Kaelan Gilman & Henry Shenk; and You Got Served by Jose Anguiano, Emily Deering & Bryce Ellis. Left Side by Esther Magasis, Andy Tran & Ryan Zemke was honored in the Documentary category, and in the Public Affairs category Cops by John Barnes & Nicole Bowns was honored, as well as Seattle Needle Exchange by Coburn Erskine, Will Pierce & Ben Steiner.

Northwest High School Film Festival Honors BHS Producers

Students from the Ballard High School Video Production Program won 13 awards and honors at the 11th annual Northwest High School Film Festival at Shoreline Community College on May 19. This is the largest and longest running festival for high school filmmakers in the Puget Sound region. This year 275 productions were entered in the competition from 21 schools. The festival was judged by a panel of 23 industry professionals and college media professors. The event was organized by the Media Educators Excellence Team (MEET) and sponsored by Adobe, Canon, DigiPen, Shoreline Community College, and the Art Institute of Seattle.

BHS productions were honored in seven different categories, reflecting the diverse skills and talents of Ballard’s video students. All the winning productions will be shown on Friday, May 29 at The Showing, a screening of work by students in the BHS Video Production Program. The event begins at 7 p.m. in the BHS auditorium. There is a suggested donation of $5.00.

Ballard’s Northwest High School Film Festival winners:

AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE

Comedic Narrative
“The Ring”
Jeremy Eliassen, Dylan Miller

Documentary
“Half Life Snacks”
Emily Deering, Levi Friedman, Kathryn Van Buren

Music Video
“You Live in Your Head”
Alex Papac, Isaac Sommers, Kathryn Van Buren

News Feature
“Climbing for a Cure”
Kaelan Gilman, Annalee Millar, Will Livesley-O’Neill

Public Service Announcement
“Wolfhaven”
David Marangwanda, Justin Taylor, Kathryn Van Buren

Sports
“Left Side”
Esther Magasis, Andy Tran, Ryan Zemke


HONORABLE MENTIONS

Documentary
“Seattle Needle Exchange”
Coburn Erskine, William Pierce, Ben Steiner

Dramatic Narrative
“Oragami Tomodachi”
Dana Baumgartner, Esther Magasis, Kritika Mani

“You Got Served”
Emily Deering, Bryce Ellis, Jose Anguiano

Music Video
“A Man has Needs”
Sean Hendricks, Jacob Kutrakun, Matthew Law-Phipps, Tyler Fleming

News Feature
“BHS Volleyball”
Emma Hutchison, Evan Philip, Taylor McGrew

Public Service Announcement
“What are YOU doing?”
Jeremy Eliassen, Suraiya Emdad, Taylor Rubright

Sports
“Rough Riders Lacrosse”
Megan Burkland, Mallory Cummins, Maddie Soukup

Ballard High School Filmmakers Win NFFTY Award

Left Side, a documentary about a professional skier and mountain biker who managed to stay competitive after the accident that cost him his left leg, won the prize for Best Documentary last night at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). The documentary was produced by BHS video students Esther Magasis, Andy Tran & Ryan Zemke. NFFTY featured 113 films from 20 states and 8 different countries by filmmakers 22 and younger. Many of the festival works were produced by college students from such prestigious schools of film & television as USC, UCLA, and NYU, so there was no shortage of competition!

A jury of twenty-three professional filmmakers determined the award together. Left Side will be screened again at The Showing on Friday, May 29, at 7 pm in the Ballard High School auditorium. Admission is free, but there is a suggested donation of $5 for the Video Production Program.

Ballard High School Filmmakers Score at International Festival

Three productions by Ballard High School video students have been named Official Selections of the Westport Youth Film Festival. These include the Public Service Announcement Don’t Spill by Levi Friedman, Jacob Kutrakun & Ryan Zemke, the documentary Left Side by Esther Magasis, Andy Tran & Ryan Zemke, and the drama The Umbrella by Parker Davis, Kaelan Gilman & Henry Shenk. The festival will take place at Town Hall and surrounding venues in Westport, Connecticut, on May 9th.

Westport is home to many New York film professionals, and the festival, in association with the Westport Arts Center, is designed to provide an outlet for young filmmakers to share their work in a professional environment and receive constructive criticism from a combination of peers and professionals. The festival screens “the best international and national high school and middle school films.” For more about WYFF, visit www.westportyouthfilmfest.org.

Ballard High School students distinguished themselves by having work in three different areas of festival competition: PSA, Documentary, and Drama. All of these honored productions will be screened in the BHS auditorium at a showing of work by students in the BHS Video Production Program on Friday, May 29 at 7 p.m. There is a $5 suggested donation.

Ballard High School Filmmakers Featured at National Festival

Five short films by students in the Ballard High School Video Production Program have been named Official Selections of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). The festival opens at the Seattle Cinerama Theater on Friday, April 24 and continues through Sunday at the Seattle Center. It features 113 films by young filmmakers from 20 states and 8 countries.

The honored Ballard films are Brotherly Love by Colin Colebrook, Devon Rensberger & Mohamed Kassim; Domestic Disturbance by Justin Amorratanasuchad, Lilah Horwitz & Colin Colebrook; Ladies in Armor by Sami Kubo, Diana Federighi & Audra McCafferty; Left Side by Esther Magasis, Andy Tran & Ryan Zemke; and Unplugged by Diana Federighi, Del Brummet & Kaelan Gilman. (Between them, these shorts have previously been honored by the Westport Youth Film Festival, the Young People’s Film & Video Festival, the Derek Freese High School Film & Video Festival, and the Images of Youth Video Festival.)

NFFTY itself is the brainchild of Ballard High School video 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.) A growing list of sponsors and partners, such as Volvo and the socially conscious production company Take Part, have paved the way for this second annual event.

Jesse’s music video Alarm Bell City will be screened during the festival. Virgin America hired Jesse to produce the video for the band Apple War, the winner of VA’s “Battle of the Bands” competition. Other Ballard video alumni with work at NFFTY are George Westberg (’06) and Coburn Erskine (’08). Westberg’s short comedy Time Keeps on Skippin’ explores the darker side of punctuality, while Erskine’s A Short Film by Jesus Inc. is a cautionary tale of college roommates.

Last year Ballard High School video students won the Audience Choice Award for Best High School Filmmaker as well as the Jury Prize for Best Experimental Film (selected by a panel of industry professionals). However, like the Sundance Film Festival, NFFTY includes forums on filmmaking in addition to screenings and awards. “The Filmmaker as Dealmaker”, “The Social Value of Filmmaking” and “The Power of Music in Film” are several current examples. Admission to these forums is free of charge if you have a festival pass. For a complete schedule of events, show times, and ticket information, visit www.nffty.org.

Don't Miss "The Showing" on February 5

Everyone is invited to a screening of videos produced first semester by students in the Ballard High School Video Production Program. Due to the snow days, “The Showing” has been scheduled for Thursday, February 5 at 7 p.m. in the Ballard High School auditorium. Included will be news features, public service announcements, and short comedies and dramas. Admission is free, but there is a suggested $5.00 donation. Be sure to arrive early. Prior screenings have filled the auditorium and people have been turned away.

AWARD-WINNING BALLARD FILMMAKER INSPIRES STUDENTS

Last summer, three students from Ballard High School's Digital Filmmaking Project were recruited by writer/director George Westberg from film school at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts to crew his short comedy "Time Keeps on Skippin'." These students had just completed their sophomore year of high school and their first year in Ballard's Digital Filmmaking Project. Emily Deering was selected as Art Director, Daniel Maldonado as Sound Recordist, and Alexandra Papac as Camera Operator (although they also got to try their hands at other aspects of production). Another Ballard video student, Coburn Erskine ('08), was recruited as Lighting Director and brought his years of student video experience onto the set. Westberg was strongly confident in all of these students because he too made his start in filmmaking at Ballard High School. (He had graduated in '06.)

On Friday, January 9, Westberg will return to the BHS auditorium at 7 pm to talk with video students and screen "Time", as well as another recent student work "3 - 2 = 0." This is a private test screening for Seattle's film community, but the Ballard High School community is also invited. (Please be advised that this is college work with elements that may not be appropriate for younger children.) "Time" stars Emily McVicker ('06) and David Kulcsar ('06). McVicker, another alumnus of the BHS Video Production Program, is currently studying musical theater at Point Park College in Pittsburgh, and Kulcsar is studying acting at the University of Washington, Seattle. Sophia Federighi ('05) and Aaron Persinger ('05), also BHS video alumni, have supporting roles.

The previous summer, Westberg also cast Kulcsar and McVicker in his original short "Love is the Elle-Word." It was an Official Selection at the National Film Festival of Talented Youth, a festival that celebrates work by both high school and college age filmmakers.

Westberg had taken his first class in Ballard's Video Production Program during the fall of his junior year. His interest was piqued early in his very first projects, and at the conclusion of the course his teacher Matt Lawrence took the unusual step of placing him in the advanced class at the beginning of spring semester. His subsequent music video became a Finalist at the national Derek Freese High School Video Festival, an event hosted annually by Temple University's prestigious Film School in Philadelphia.

The following fall, Westberg sent his productions and application to the Film School at New York University. Although this school typically admits less than 3% of applicants, Westberg learned in December that he had been accepted.

During his remaining months at Ballard, Westberg directed the caffeinated comedy "The Buzz" (which won an Award of Excellence for Comedic Narrative at the regional Northwest High School Film Festival), and produced the documentary "Soccer Dads" (which was an Official Selection at the national Westport Youth Film Festival).

Westberg's final Ballard short "Bittersweet," produced along with Erskine, went on to receive not only an Award of Excellence for Dramatic Narrative at the Northwest High School Film Festival and Official Selections at Westport, Derek Freese, and the Young People's Film & Video Festivals, but it also won an Award of Excellence for Writing from the National Student Television Awards, presented at the 2007 Northwest Regional Emmy Awards by the National Association of Television Arts & Sciences.

Seattle Channel Features Award-winning Shorts from Ballard High School

Thirteen shorts by students from Ballard High School’s Video Production Program have been selected by the Seattle Channel for an entire episode of Reel Short Movies, to be cablecast over this holiday weekend. Reel Short Movies is a partnership between the Seattle Channel and the Northwest Film Forum that presents the best in local short filmmaking.

The episode features digital films, visual stories, and documentaries along with a few Public Service Announcements. Between them, these student productions have won 39 awards and honors from regional, national, and international film festivals, including the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Seattle International Film Festival, the National Film Festival for Talented Youth, and the National Student Television Awards (of the National Association of Television Arts & Sciences). All the shorts were produced at Ballard since 2005.

The episode will cablecast on the Seattle Channel (channel 21) the following dates and times:
-Thursday, November 27 at 9 pm
-Friday, November 28 at 8 pm
-Saturday, November 29 at 11 pm

BALLARD FILM STUDENTS WIN REGIONAL FESTIVAL

Three productions by students in the BHS Video Production Program are among the winners of the 32nd Annual Young People’s Film & Video Festival. The winners are the short drama “4th Floor” (by Coburn Erskine, Sami Kubo & Nolan O’Connor), and the documentaries “Domestic Disturbance” (by Justin Amorratanasuchad, Colin Colebrook & Lilah Horwitz) and “Ladies in Armor” (by Diana Federighi, Sami Kubo & Audra McCafferty).

This competitive festival accepts entries from students in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Alaska. It is coordinated by the Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon. Submissions were judged for their storytelling, originality, artistic merit, technical achievement, and investigation of subject matter by a jury of educators and film professionals. Only 15 productions were chosen for the festival from over 100 entries. Ballard topped the list of winning high schools, with 3 awarded productions.

All of the winning productions have also earned honors at other festivals. “4th Floor” won an Award of Excellence in Dramatic Narrative at the Northwest High School Film Festival, and an Honorable Mention in the Seattle International Film Festival’s FutureWave program for young filmmakers. “Ladies in Armor” won 2nd Prize at the national Derek Freese High School Film Festival in Philadelphia, and “Domestic Disturbance” was a Finalist at that same festival.

The Festival Winners’ Program will be screened on Friday, September 14 at 1 p.m. at the Whitsell Auditorium of the Portland Art Museum (1219 SW Park, Portland, Oregon). The event is free, and the public is welcome to attend. The program will run approximately 2 hours. For more information, visit http://www.nwfilm.org/festivals/young_fest.php.

BHS Producers Awarded by National Festival... Again!

Seven works by students in the Ballard High School Video Production Program were named Finalists for the Grand Prize at the 12th Annual Derek Freese High School Film & Video Festival. This prestigious festival drew competition from high school producers in all corners of the nation and was judged by professors from Temple University’s renowned film school and professional filmmakers. The festival took place in Philadephia at Temple’s Film and Media Arts department on May 31st.

The productions were “Checking Out” (a comedic narrative by Justin Amorratanasuchad, Jacob Fabian & Annalee Milar), “Brotherly Love” (also a comedic narrative by Colin Colebrook, Mohamed Kassim & Devon Rensberger), “4th Floor” (an eerie drama by Coburn Erskine, Sami Kubo & Nolan O’Connor), “Seattle Needle Exchange” (a documentary by Coburn Erskine, William Pierce & Ben Steiner), “Domestic Disturbance: One Family’s Struggle” (a documentary by Justin Amorratanasuchad, Colin Colebrook & Lilah Horwitz), “Ladies in Armor” (a documentary by Diana Federighi, Sami Kubo & Audra McCafferty), and “Spaced Out” (a satiric narrative by Justin Amorratanasuchad, Michael Hipp & Devan Sizemore).

At the conclusion of the festival, the documentary “Ladies in Armor” was awarded 2nd Prize. This is a real honor, as Temple has one of the most respected programs for documentary production in the country.

This marks the fifth year in a row that productions by students from the Ballard High School Video Program have been Finalists in the Derek Freese Festival, and the third time they’ve been prize-winners.

SIFF Features Work by Ballard High School Video Students

The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) will be featuring two shorts by students in the Ballard High School Video Production Program as part of FutureWave, its showcase for young filmmakers. The first short, “Claudio the Magnificent,” was produced and directed by Bridget Berg, Lilah Horwitz & Will Livesly-O’Neill. It’s a comedy about a street mime whose unrequited love spurs him to extreme actions. The short also won an Honorable Mention at the Northwest High School Film Festival.

The second short, “4th Floor”, was directed by Sami Kubo and produced by Sami with Coburn Erskine & Nolan O’Connor. In “4th Floor”, a tardy job applicant chooses the elevator over the stairs, with unexpected results. The short won an Award of Excellence at the Northwest High School Film Festival. Both shorts will be screened at the Egyptian Theater on Saturday, June 7 at 4 pm.

BHS video students Riley Heckel, Kyle Seago, Devan Sizemore and Mixtli Zavaleta were production interns on the feature film “Visioneers”, a dark comedy which was shot in the Seattle area during the summer of 2006 and will have its world premiere during SIFF. Advanced press on the film is very positive. It will screen at the Egyptian Theater on Thursday, June 12 at 9:30 pm, and Saturday, June 14 at 4:00 pm.

Tickets for these SIFF events can be purchased at http://www.siff.net/festival/tickets/.

And the Winners are... Ballard Video Students

Two productions by Ballard High School video students have been selected for honors by the National Student Television Awards in the northwest region. The awards are a project of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (the professional organization that gives the Emmy Awards) and honor the best in student television production. The regional awards celebrate the most outstanding productions from five northwest states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska.

Justin Amorratanasuchad, Mike Hipp & Devon Sizemore won the Writing category for their satirical short “Spaced Out.” The Honorable Mention in that same category went to Will Livesley-O’Neill, Evangeline Spracklin & Ben Steiner for their short “The End is Near.” The students will be honored at the 45th Annual Northwest Regional Emmy Awards on June 7th. Both productions were also honored recently by the Northwest High School Film Festival and the National Film Festival for Talented Youth.

Meanwhile in Westport, Connecticut, the international Westport Youth Film Festival announced this year’s winners. Justin Amorratanasuchad, Colin Colebrook & Jacob Fabian won the competitive PSA category for their 60 second spot “SDA: Wash Your Hands.” WYFF is designed to provide an outlet for young filmmakers to share their work in a professional environment and receive constructive criticism from a combination of peers and professionals. The festival screens “the best international and national high school and middle school films.”

All of these awarded productions will be screened at The Showing this Friday, May 30 at 7 pm in the BHS auditorium. The event is free, but there is a suggested donation of $5.

Emmy Organization Nominates BHS Video Students

Two productions by Ballard High School video students have been nominated for National Student Television Awards at the regional level. The awards are a project of the National Association of Television Arts & Sciences (the professional organization that gives the Emmy Awards) and honor the best in student television production. The regional awards celebrate the most outstanding productions from five northwest states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. The winners will be honored at the 45th Annual Northwest Regional Emmy Awards on June 7th.

The nominees are Will Livesley-O’Neill, Evangeline Spracklin & Ben Steiner for “The End is Near”, and Justin Amorratanasuchad, Mike Hipp & Devan Sizemore for “Spaced Out”. Both narrative shorts are nominated in the Writing category. They will be screened at The Showing on Friday, May 30th at 7 pm in the BHS auditorium. Admission is free, but there is a suggested donation of $5.

Last year, Ballard High School video students received two nominations. The narrative short “Bittersweet” by Coburn Erskine, Becca Rice, Devan Sizemore & George Westberg won the Writing award, and “Ave Rats” by Clinton Carucci, Ian McKagan & Mixtli Zavaleta received an Honorable Mention in the Documentary category.

Northwest High School Film Festival Honors BHS Producers

Students from the Ballard High School Video Production Program won 7 awards and honors at the 10th annual Northwest High School Film Festival on May 4. This is the largest and longest running festival for high school filmmakers in the Puget Sound region. Over 250 productions were entered in the competition from 22 schools. The festival was judged by a panel of 17 that included industry professionals and college media professors. The event was organized by the Media Educators’ for Excellence Team (MEET) and sponsored by Adobe, Canon, and Apple.

The awarded productions can be seen Friday, May 30 at The Showing, a screening of work by students in the BHS Video Production Program. The event begins at 7 p.m. in the BHS auditorium. There’s a suggested donation of $5.00.

Here’s a list of Ballard’s Northwest High School Film Festival winners:

AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE

Dramatic Narrative
“Spaced Out”
Justin Amorratanasuchad, Mike Hipp, Devon Sizemore

“4th Floor”
Coburn Erskine, Sami Kubo, Nolan O’Connor


Comedic Narrative
“Playdate”
Ilsina Nazarova, Reed Stevens, Kevin Vitz-Wong


HONORABLE MENTIONS

Comedic Narrative
“Claudio the Magnificent”
Bridget Berg, Lilah Horwitz, Will Livesley-O’Neill

“The End is Near”
Will Livesley-O’Neill, Evangeline Spracklin, Ben Steiner

“The Test”
Audra McCafferty, Taylor Rubright, Kristin Yeasting


Public Service Announcement
“Let Kids be Kids”
Oliver Brossmann, Sami Kubo, Matt Law-Phipps

Ballard Video Students Take Prizes at National Festival

Two works by Ballard High School Video Production students were prize-winners at the national Images of Youth 2008 Video Festival. The winning films were “Unplugged”, by Del Brummet, Diana Federighi & Kaelan Gilman; and “Brotherly Love”, by Colin Colebrook, Mohamed Kassim & Devon Rensberger.

The Images of Youth Video Festival is a project of Action for Media Education, a Seattle-based non-profit organization. Ballard was the only school whose students received multiple prizes at the festival. Both of the prize-winning productions will be screened at The Showing on Friday, May 30th at 7 pm in the Ballard High School auditorium. Admission is free, but there is a suggested donation of $5.

WESTPORT YOUTH FILM FESTIVAL TO FEATURE BALLARD PRODUCTIONS

Seven short productions by Ballard High School video students have been named Official Selections of the Westport Youth Film Festival. The shorts are “Playdate” by Ilsina Nazarova, Reed Stevens & Kevin Vitz-Wong; “4th Floor” by Coburn Erskine, Sami Kubo & Nolan O’Connor; "Brotherly Love" by Colin Colebrook, Mohamed Kassim & Devon Rensberger; “Shoulda Voted” by Will Livesley-O’Neill, Will Pierce & Kristin Yeasting; “Let Kids be Kids” by Oliver Brossmann, Sami Kubo & Matt Law-Phipps; "Conscious Consumption" by Coburn Erskine, Diana Federighi & Lilah Horwitz; and “SDA” by Justin Amorratanasuchad, Colin Colebrook & Jacob Fabian. The festival begins May 10.

Westport, Connecticut, is home to many New York film professionals, and the festival, in association with the Westport Arts Center, is designed to provide an outlet for young filmmakers to share their work in a professional environment and receive constructive criticism from a combination of peers and professionals. The festival screens “the best international and national high school and middle school films”. For more about WYFF, visit www.westportyouthfilmfest.org.

Ballard High School students distinguished themselves by having work in three different areas of festival competition: Drama, Comedy, and Public Service Announcement. All of these honored productions will be screened in the BHS auditorium at a showing of work by students in the BHS Video Production Program on Friday, May 30 at 7 p.m. There is a $5 suggested donation.

Ballard Filmmakers in SIFF

Two shorts by Ballard filmmakers have been selected for FutureWave. This special program of the Seattle International Film Festival includes the best of young people’s filmmaking from across the country. SIFF describes FutureWave shorts as “exciting, challenging, and inspiring.” Included will be “Claudio the Magnificent” by Bridget Berg, Lilah Horwitz, and Will Livesley-O’Neill, and “4th Floor” by Coburn Erskine, Sami Kubo, and Nolan O’Connor. The shorts will be screened at the Egyptian Theater of Capitol Hill on Saturday, June 7 at 4:00 p.m. and will include Q&A with the filmmakers. Tickets are $11 and can be purchased at www.seattlefilm.org.

National Video Festival Features Films by BHS Students

Three works by Ballard High School Video Production students have been named Official Selections by the national Images of Youth 2008 Video Festival. “Unplugged”, by Del Brummet, Diana Federighi & Kaelan Gilman, is a short film about a boy whose world changes when his i-Pod dies. “Shoulda Voted”, by Will Livesley-O’Neill, William Pierce & Kristin Yeasting, is a Public Service Announcement for the League of Women Voters. The short film “Brotherly Love”, by Colin Colebrook, Mohamed Kassim & Devon Rensberger, explores the complex communication between two brothers. Each of these producers will be recognized with a certificate for Outstanding Video Production. A group of youth judges also met this weekend to select several of the videos for special cash prizes, to be presented at the festival.

The Images of Youth Video Festival is a project of Action for Media Education, a Seattle-based non-profit organization. The festival will be presented at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center (104 17th Avenue South, Seattle) on Friday, April 25th from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Each of the honored productions will also be screened at The Showing on Friday, May 30th at 7 pm in the Ballard High School auditorium.

Ballard Filmmakers Win National Awards

Sunday, March 30, 2008
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 73 films from across the country by filmmakers 21 and younger. Many of the featured works were produced by students from such prestigious schools of film & television as the University of Southern California, New York University, and Emerson College, so there was no shortage of competition!

“Spaced Out” by Justin Amorratanasuchad, Mike Hipp and Devon Sizemore won the Jury Prize for Best Experimental Film. This short concerns one boy’s increasingly ominous struggle with MySpace. A jury of twelve filmmakers, including industry professionals and youth, determined the award together. “The End is Near” by Will Livesley-O’Neill, Vange Spracklin and Ben Steiner won the Audience Choice Award for Best High School Filmmaker. Their short documents a day in the life of a high school senior so frantic to finish his college application that he fails to notice an impending nuclear holocaust. Both shorts will be screened again at The Showing on Friday, May 30, at 7 pm in the Ballard High School auditorium. Admission is free, but there is a suggested donation of $5 for the Video Production Program.