The Sherwood Film Festival is returning for its fourth year on April 20 at 7:00 p.m. in the Ertzman Theater. This year’s event will feature some significant changes designed to both encourage more students to compete and increase turnout as the festival gains recognition and anticipation.

“When we first started out, we had four categories; music videos, animation, narrative, and documentary. Over the years we’ve whittled that number down, and this will be our first year with only two categories; narrative and documentary,” said Film as Literature teacher Christiane Lock, who heads the festival.

Additionally, films can last no longer than six minutes this year. While there was no time limit for last year’s competition, this year’s requirement challenges the participants to fit more content into a shorter video, providing a more pleasurable experience for the attendees.

However, many other components of the festival will remain the same, like the prizes offered to the winners.

Winners will still be awarded cash prizes; $100 for first place, $75 for second, and $50 for third in both categories. Admission will remain free, and any MCPS student can submit a film, allowing students from all over the county to embrace the art of filmmaking. Students from B-CC, Blair, Blake, Poolesville, and other high schools have entered in years past.

Many participants found their love for lmmaking through taking Lock’s course.

“Mrs. Lock’s film class taught my friends and me what a ‘good movie’ is. It also inspired us to make our own film and enter it in the festival,” said senior Eric Braker, who won second place in the narrative category last year for his film “Running Wild With Bear Grylls.”

Other returning prize winners include juniors Matt Post and John Caporaletti, who together won first and third place as well as an honorable mention for their documentaries last year. “[The Film Festival] provides a really fun environment full of people like us who enjoy making videos,” said Caporaletti.

Films are first judged by a panel of Sherwood teachers and students in the Film Club, and the top films are sent to an outside panel; this year’s panel is made up of a local artist, a local actor, and a music industry professional.

Then, the panel chooses the top three films in each category as well as various honorable mentions. Award-winning films will be presented at the festival.