Sunday, September 13, 2015

NATIONAL FESTIVAL TO SCREEN WORK BY BHS FILMMAKERS

Three productions by students in the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program have been named Official Selections of the All American Film Festival.  The festival is the largest high school film festival in the world, and receives competition from high school filmmakers throughout the country.  The festival will run October 9 - 11 in New York City at Planet Hollywood, AMC Theatres Times Square, and the historic Kings Theater.  Films are evaluated by prestigious judges such as screenwriter Diablo Cody, documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, and actors Kristen Stewart and Dylan McDermott.  Official Selections are eligible for awards in a number of categories.  Awards will be presented at the Teen Indie Awards event at the conclusion of the festival.
Ballard’s Official Selection in the Documentary category is Clipped Wings by Coleman Andersen, Duncan Gowdy & Leo Pfeifer.  The film tells the story of those most affected by the Boy Scouts ban on gay members.  In the Drama category, Ballard students have two Official Selections.  Air Pressure (by Coleman Andersen, Leo Pfeifer, and Josh Vredevoogd) examines the aftermath of a disaster at the Balloon Animal World Championships.   Stolen (also by Coleman Andersen and Leo Pfeifer) questions the cost of revenge.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

SIFF PRIZE-WINNER SCREENS AT MORE FESTIVALS

Since winning the Grand Jury’s WaveMaker Award at the Seattle International Film Festival last June, Audio Input, the documentary short by Duncan Boszko, Jack O’Neal, Piper Phillips & Sho Schrock, has been sought out by other international festivals.  In July, it was an Official Selection at the Tumbleweed Film Festival.  Currently, it’s an Official Selection at the CineShift Film Festival in Anacortes, and it is also an Official Selection of the All Seas Film Festival - an online event coming up on September 24th.  The film explores the reasons and rewards of Seattle podcasters.

Media Coverage

YOUNG BLOOD: SEATTLE-AREA HIGH SCHOOL BOASTS AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKING PROGRAM (Media Inc., August 3, 2015)

Media Coverage

FILM ABOUT GEOFORCE PROGRAM WINS AT REGIONAL EMMY AWARDS CEREMONY (Alaska Business Monthly, June 10, 2015)

Media Coverage

BHS STUDENTS NOMINATED FOR AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE (Media Inc., May 29, 2015)

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

Media Coverage

'BALLARD TOUCH' IS GETTING HIGH SCHOOL FILMMAKERS NOTICED (The Seattle Times, January 2, 2014)

Media Coverage

BALLARD HIGH STUDENTS GO HOLLYWOOD AS BUDDING FILMMAKERS (Seattle P-I, January 11, 2007)

Media Coverage

GAMBLE PAYS OFF FOR YOUNG BALLARD FILMMAKER (The Seattle Times, April 7, 2005)




ABOUT THE DIGITAL FILMMAKING PROGRAM


The Digital Filmmaking Program is part of the free public education at Ballard High School, and is open to BHS students of all grades.  Since its beginning in the fall of 2001, students in the program have won hundreds of awards at regional, national, and international film festivals.  Based on their portfolios they have won honors from the National YoungArts Foundation and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (at the National and Northwest Emmy Awards) and consistently gained admission to prestigious college programs of film and television, sometimes with large scholarships and advanced placement.  (Recent program graduates have attended the Australian Film, Television & Radio School, Chapman University, Columbia College of Chicago, Emerson College, Loyola Marymount University, New York University, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the University of Southern California – all college programs ranked by the Hollywood Reporter as among the best for film and television production in the world.)

Some of the students have even made history.  Jesse Harris (’04) wrote and directed a feature film for his senior project.  The day he graduated, he learned that the LA-based FilmMates wanted to purchase the film for theatrical release.  (It opened in Landmark Theaters the following April.)  This makes Jesse the youngest person ever to write and direct a feature film that received multi-state theatrical release.  In 2007, Kyle Seago (’07) and Jesse Harris (’04) co-founded the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY).  It has since become the largest youth film festival in the world.

The program provides professional production internships through a variety of media organizations and businesses, television shows, and feature films.  Numerous program alumni have gone on to careers in the industry: writing or producing series television programs in Los Angeles, producing music videos for major artists, directing feature films and commercials, working on the camera crew or art department of feature films, producing media for major corporations, or working as broadcast journalists.