By: Mia Khan; Staff Writer
The Mills film festival highlights student films and animations that are made in video production and media arts as well as advanced students. Organized by Ms. Arge, weeks of preparation occurred along with a selected panel of guest judges including Ms. Fanton, Mr. Carillo, Ms. Ryan, and Ryan Silber. Wellness support was also available for triggering media. This year’s creative collection featured 24 projects ranging from music videos to documentaries.
In an interview with Ms. Arge, she talks about her inspirations for her students, “It was an exciting moment to see all the work on the big screen presented to the school community. I’ve always loved attending film festivals and really wanted to showcase student films because it’s important to celebrate student work and share with the Mills community. The annual film festival started in 2016. It’s an opportunity to honor the students who dedicated years into this subject and focus on their next steps as a filmmaker or a creative person.” Judges give helpful feedback after viewing all the students projects to improve upon and refine teaching and new goals
The awards ceremony was a celebratory moment for all of the video creators, as they were presented with golden mixtape trophies. Nominations included 24 Hours To Fly for best animation, Teenage Dream for best music video, Behind The Athlete for best documentary,
Immoral Women for best overall film, and The Penrose Windup for cinematography.
Senior Alexia Ocampo reflects on her project, Immoral Women. “I was really inspired by the movie Waves (2019) but a lot of ideas just came to me as I wrote them down. The script took about 2-3 weeks, and filming took a month. I took my first art of video class at Mills as a sophomore, and my interest in film continued from there. The festival was a good opportunity to showcase students’ hard work, it’s a therapeutic way to express yourself and your art.”
Charli Deng won best animation with her animation 24 Hours To Fly. “My inspiration came from my interest in a bug documentary about mayflies and the way they spend their lives. Many hours were spent on graphics and compositing took about a month. The film festival was so awesome and exciting to see other people’s projects. It was very inspirational and I felt humbled.”
This year’s Film festival along with Mills’s creative department helped demonstrate how Filmmaking is one of the most powerful mediums, students get to tell their own stories instead of other people telling them.
