Aragon hosts first annual Peninsula Student Film Festival

On March 7, Aragon’s Video Production Club hosted the first annual Peninsula Student Film Festival. Eighteen short films made by Bay Area students were presented and judged by both the audience and three critics. Awards were given out for People’s Choice and the Critics’ Choice for Best Audio, Editing, Cinematography, and Story.

Nicholas Carrillo, one of the judges and Aragon’s photography teacher, explains, “We got [the prizes] from a gentleman by the name of Alan Chun … He graduated [from Aragon] in the ’80s and he is currently in the industry as something they call a gaffer, which is basically someone who operates a camera for a production.”

“[The film festival] was the idea of the Aragon Video Production Club as a whole,” says junior Jeremiah Rondeau, president of Video Production Club. “We definitely want an annual thing that really encourages filmmaking. [This year] we really got a great response from all over the district, even some from San Francisco, so we’re really happy about that. We’re also happy to see the different diversity that we’re getting as far as film themes.”

“We wanted to bring together and celebrate local filmmakers,” adds senior Richard Shu, vice president of Video Production Club.

There was a variety of film styles shown at the festival, from serious videos expressing messages about bullying, individuality and suicide, to comedies and action flicks. One was a documentary about the life of an eraser and another was a music video. A surfing video filmed entirely on a GoPro and a spy film were also shown among a variety of unique films.

“Film is a very popular art form right now on the peninsula, and it’s growing,” says Carrillo.

Sophomore Jared Mayerson says, “I think [making shorter films] lets you try to just get out there if you’re not experienced and just try to give filmmaking a shot.”

The short film “Paper Love,” by Capuchino High School students Zoe Kiely, Kim Velarde, Jhon Simon, and Gino Flores, won both Best Story and the People’s Choice awards. This film, about a girl who always wore a paper bag over her head, told a heart-warming story of finding love and a girl learning to love herself.

“The movie started out as sort of a general dream that we had a long time ago,” says Capuchino student Kim Velarde. “[My teacher] showed me that you can actually make a really good movie with a really small concept and make it a much bigger picture, and with that I developed the story more and got to meet an amazing crew.”

“Squares,” by Vasily Provatakis of San Mateo Middle College, won Best Audio for its use of sound to convey the message “Not everyone will believe in you, but an artist doesn’t care,” Provatakis said in the video.

Best Cinematography went to “El Camino” by Pabijhot Randhawa, and Best Editing went to “The Ocean is in Me” by Jackson Weber and Henry Callander.

“You can do so much these days. It’s all so sophisticated, the editing and the music,” says judge and Aragon English teacher James Daniel. “[The entries were] so different, it’s hard to rate them against each other.”

The winners of the Critics’ Choice awards received a chance to work with a professional in the field of the category they won, and the winners of the People’s Choice award won the opportunity to film their next short film with a professional crew, using advanced equipment and a RED Scarlet camera.

The process of preparing for this festival started in November, when the Video Production Club began putting up posters and advertising around the district’s schools.

Rondeau says, “Most of it honestly was just word of mouth, and we talked through the film teachers, really trying to get the word out through schools.”

“Our aim was to get middle school students,” says Carrillo. “We wanted to get interest to come into Aragon. At that time we put out posters, and just as backup we thought, ‘You know, let’s put out some posters to local high schools.’ We didn’t even get a poster to [some high schools] but we got feedback from [them]. They just found out through word of mouth, and Facebook, social networking, stuff like that.”

The Aragon Video Production Club hopes to continue the Peninsula Student Film Festival as an annual event that encourages filmmaking. Rondeau says, “We hope a lot of the contestants this year will be contestants next year.”

Some already have exactly those plans. Mayerson says,“Next year, I definitely want to try to submit something.”

This film festival celebrated not only the art of film, but also how it brings people closer together. “The number one thing I like about filmmaking is definitely hearing other people’s stories and hearing all of the creative ideas that they come up with,” says Velarde. “And ultimately, film is about meeting new people and learning about new things.”

Those interested should visit filmcontest.org to watch the movies shown at the film festival.