In the words of the great Atticus Finch, the resurrected Niles North Film Festival was a “triumph of the human spirit.” Of course, if you weren’t at the event you may not get the reference.
On May 14, the half-decade’s worth of anticipation came to fulfillment at to North. More than 80 people paid the $1 admission fee to walk the red carpet and attend the Film Festival The Film Festival in the glittering Codell Commons.
Student film crews gathered together to screen their self-directed and produced films. These films include D. Fell (by Anna Do), Memoirs of a Mascot (by Yiorgos Giannetos, Will Boersma, and Maytal Maor), Mr. Joshi- A True Story (by Sara Beladi, and Sarah Benjamin), The Obsession (by Kayleen Enriquez), Double Fault (by Ammar Ikanovic, Dawid Szmigielski, Charles Johnson, Dan Weldon, Warren D’souza, and Sean Ro) and Robbery (by Eva Dubovoy, and Sebastijan Torgus).
The films did not have to follow many guidelines, besides being PG-13 (school appropriate), and they could not exceed seven minutes. To enter a film the groups had to put down $10 each. With the limited amount of rules, the possibilities for these films were infinite. The night of the event showed this six fold; literally. These expressions of creativity all were exceptional, but to the panel of judges, featuring Ivan Silverberg, Angela Hankes and Robb Barton, four of the six videos struck a chord.
The Robbery, a film about, well, a robbery and D. Fell, a film about a boy versus girl basketball game, received the night’s honorable mention awards.
Memoirs of a Mascot, about senior Will Boersma’s struggle to relieve himself of the duty of being the one, and only Victor Viking, won the fan favorite award, earning a $50 prize.
In first place, winning Best Film was a murder mystery, with a twist. The man investigating the case, also happened to be the murderer. Hence the title, Double Fault. The film’s producers won $150.
To see all of the films featured in this years film festival, please click the link below.
