Student film part of main Film Festival

For the first time, a student film will be screened as part of the main Sonoma Valley Film Festival. Sonoma Valley high school senior Mike Lee created, produced and directed the 17-minute film entitled, “D.D.,” which stands for either designated driver or drunk driver, depending on audience perception. The movie debuted at the high school’s March 3 drunk driving prevention event and will be included in the film festival’s shorts program on Saturday, April 4.
“I’m pretty excited,” said Lee. “The movie was a great learning experience from start to finish. It’s an honor for it to be included in the festival.”
Since 2000, students have been showing their films and videos as part of the Student Works portion of the film festival. This year a total of 14 student films will be shown, including two films submitted by middle school students and one high school alumni film.
“At this event, the students are treated like the serious filmmakers they are,” said Peter Hansen, teacher of the high school’s broadcast television and film program. “All the submissions make me proud and Mike’s film is really fabulous. He took it on, ran with it and completed it pretty much on his own.”
During a recent visit to the high school’s ‘green screen’ studio, seven students – out of a total 20 in the program – were being interviewed and taped to create their film trailers for a web video. The groups of students included seniors Mike Lee, Jessica Schimm, Matthew Compton-Clark and Hilary Campbell. Juniors present were Peter Coburn, Joe Alexander-Short and David DeSmet.
The confident, well-spoken group of students remarked on the merits of the broadcast TV and film program, saying that it has given them a chance to express their creativity and learn skills that they otherwise wouldn’t. Each of the seniors has applied to four-year colleges and hopes to continue in filmmaking as well as major in subjects like English.
“I feel like this program has helped me gain experience and stretch my goals,” said Lee. “I’ve always wanted to go big with movie making and working on ‘D.D.’ brought together all that I’ve done so far, from scriptwriting to casting, lighting, props, budgeting, directing, producing and everything in between. Having it accepted into the main film festival is confirmation that I’m moving in the right direction.”
As for why the film society selected it for the main festival, Lee said be believes it’s because it outperforms what you’d expect from a student film. “It has a story line you can follow and characters and interaction. I don’t want to gloat but … it looks like a movie,” said Lee.
The high school film program is currently in its eighth year. Generously funded through the Film Society and additional donations, the program gives students a chance to learn filmmaking and broadcast television techniques from the ground up. The high school’s first-rate facility contains state-of-the-art editing suites with Macintosh computers and software; Sony and Canon high-definition cameras as well as cameras for everyday use; specialized music editing software; and professional microphones and lighting kits. Teacher Hansen runs various levels of classes from beginner to advanced and encourages internships in the community for those students serious enough to be looking at film and broadcast as a career.
During the film festival students wear official filmmaker badges provided through the support of the Sonoma Valley High School Boosters Club. They also take part in the filmmaker lunch and might be lucky enough to sit next to a major star like Bruce Willis.
“Over the course of our eight-year existence, the Film Society has given us this incredible venue to show student works on the big screen in the middle of a major international film festival,” said Hansen. “And even more importantly, they’ve raised close to $500,000 to keep our program alive. It’s incredible.”
Current budget cuts threaten the program but Hansen is hopeful that the school board and the community will recognize the value of film and media literacy in our schools and respond accordingly.
The student trailers for each of the films can be viewed on the Sonoma Valley Film Program web site (www.svhsfilms.org) as well as on the local cable channel SVTV27.
Student films will be screened during the 2009 Student Works Program portion of the festival on Thursday, April 2 from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. and again on Sunday, April 5 from 3 to 5 p.m. For more information on the film festival, visit http://www.sonomafilmfest.org.