Elijah Cabatic, Opinions Editor
As is tradition here at Mills, the Spring Film Festival took place in the Mills Auditorium on April 17th, and as always Mills students brought its A-game. Every category was filled with high quality films made by Ms. Arge’s Art of Film and Media arts classes. The films ranged from music videos to drama and showed the true creativity of their creators. After the films were shown, 13 awards were given out. The trophies were VHS tapes painted gold which added an extra “film” touch to the award ceremony, even if most high school students have never used a VHS tape. I talked to some of these winners to get what they thought of the whole event.
One of those winners was Fin Cereface (10) whose group won the Upcoming Filmmakers Award. His group had two entries into the film festival including a music video set to “Homesick” by MICO and a short film advertising sleep. He felt good about their chances going into the film festival because “Mrs. Arge avidly showed interest in our films, but I think we were definitely surprised when we did win.” When asked about what their favorite part of the film was, he responded, “[It] was in the music video and was when we were dancing on the logs like in the Lion King”. The film festival gives a chance for students to express themselves creatively in front of a large, captive audience. One of the hardest things about creating videos is getting people to see them, so the opportunity the film festival gives is vital in not just showing off, but also gaining confidence.
Junior Jacob Ramos also won an award, which for him was the Drama award for his film “Murder 2”. He enjoyed the shooting of his film as well as he said, “When Jimmy (Leo) chases Lydia (Kelly). We spent a long time trying to figure out how to do the shot, and then executing it. It was very rewarding to finally get a satisfactory shot.” Many filmmakers gain enjoyment from shooting the film just as much as seeing the final product. He also carried the same confidence as Cereface as he said that he “absolutely” believed he would win. It can be said that you may need some level of confidence to succeed in anything, but both Ramos and Cereface had a lot of confidence in their films.
Another student who submitted work was senior Nicholas Chang who created “Exit the Dragon” which won Best Animation and Audience Choice for Advanced. He was no less confident in his chances of winning as he said, “I would be lying if I said no.” He didn’t mean it in an arrogant way, but later explained, “I also told myself in the beginning of the semester I would do anything to win an award.” A lot about filmmaking is just how much effort you put in is what you get out, and as shown by Chang’s animation. In the almost 10 minute long film he had to draw each scene and was also able to fully voice the film with a full cast. When asked if there was anything he would have wanted to improve he said, “I definitely should’ve colored my film if I had more time”. Even without the color, his film stood out winning the aforementioned awards.
Mills is full of talented filmmakers who put their heart and soul into their projects, and the film festival gave those students a chance to show off their talents. As the school year comes to an end, this also acts as a last show for the seniors like Chang. His favorite film in the show that he didn’t create was “Memento” by Mark Chan. He enjoyed the film because, “as a senior, I got to look back at the people and memories that got me here.”
As director Peter Jackson once said, “The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.” In the end filmmaking is just a creative outlet for a person to express something about themselves and Mills has done, and will hopefully continue to foster that within the community.
