Student Filmmakers Ready for Limelight

Red carpet. Shiny trophies. Films.

Easily likened to the Oscars for high schoolers, the fourth annual Greenfield Youth Film Festival rolls into the Keswick Theater in Glenside Tuesday night. 

About 350 student filmmakers from 26 high schools in Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Berks, Chester and Philadelphia counties are vying for top honors in three film categories – documentary, fiction/narrative and experimental.

Of the 200 total entries, Dave Thomas, TV/film production teacher, said 34 are coming from his students. This year’s entries equate to more than the last three years combined, he said.

“I think the averages are really in our favor,” Thomas said, noting that Hatboro-Horsham students have come home with their own versions of Oscars in .  

Thomas attributes the uptick in submissions to the district’s introduction of a film production class this year. Since January, Thomas said his students have spent “dozens” of hours busily shooting, editing and perfecting their films.

“Before this year, there were a lot of the same kids doing it,” said Thomas, adding that students from all four high school grade levels are competing this year. “You’ve got freshman making some really cool things. They’re right up there with seniors.”

The film festival encourages students from throughout the Delaware Valley to “explore and share their voices” through storytelling and filmmaking, according to a press release.

The unique learning experience brings together faculty from local universities and seasoned industry professionals, including Oscar, Grammy and Emmy winners, to mentor budding teen filmmakers throughout the program and provide university-level instruction in both the artistic and technical approach to filmmaking, according to the release.

Apparently, students from schools other than Hatboro-Horsham have sought to expand their filmmaking horizons by participating in the festival.

"It's been a pleasure to watch this festival grow from five participating schools to 26 in just a few years," Jill Greenfield Feldman, a trustee and administrator of the Greenfield Foundation said in the release. "Especially in times of budget cuts to the arts, the students need to understand the value that we put on their creative development."

Besides awarding first, second and third place honors for the film categories, the Greenfield Foundation provides additional honors for the following: best director, cinematography, editing, original score, sound design, actor, actress, animation, screenwriting, visual effects and best use of a teacher in a movie.

If nothing else, Hatboro-Horsham students will get a chance to rub elbows with (teen) filmmakers at their very own Oscars of sorts.

If you go

The fourth annual Greenfield Youth Film Festival Awards Show is open to the public, free of charge, and will take place on May 1 at the Keswick Theater, 291 North Keswick Ave., in Glenside, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more information about the Greenfield Youth Film Festival, click here to view some past submissions, visit the GYFF YouTube Channel by clicking here.