By Meagan Barrett ‘15

This year, Sherwood will have its first ever Film Festival on Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m. in the Ertzman. All video entries must be between two and 12 minutes long, and fit under one of the following five categories: Narrative, Documentary, Music Video, Animated Film and, surprisingly enough, Vines. The judges will choose the three best of each category as winners.

What does one get for winning? So far, in addition to an impressive addendum to one’s college transcript, the decided prizes are a “trophy” and a t-shirt with the Film Festival logo on it. As an added bonus, “we’re looking into the possibility of movie tickets … to give out as prizes,” said English teacher and Film Festival advisor, Christiane Lock.

Many budding Sherwood directors are going to be featured in the festival. This includes junior Eric Sagastizado, who worked in a group with sophomore Anya Mudryakova and junior Andrew Marin. The trio created a short named “Horse,” and the comedy aims to be a parody of a horror movie. “I wrote the script in a day, we filmed it in a day and Anya edited,” said Sagastizado of his movie.

However, among all of the viable prizes, Sagastizado was motivated to enter his video only for the enjoyment. “It’s more for fun. Win or lose, I don’t really care,” said Sagastizado.

Seniors Matt Stinson and Mitchell Porter have been working on a video to submit as well. “Imagine ‘12 Years a Slave’ and ‘Schindler’s List’ combined. That’s kind of the plot of our movie,” said Stinson.

For Stinson and Porter, however, the process of creating the movie has been a rocky expedition. The two took a notable amount of time deciding on the plot of their movie and preparing for filming. “Tone, characters, message, how you want to convey the film, and how to tell the story you want with a small budget are all factors,” noted Stinson.

The two young producers also have a different reason for entering their video into the Film Festival. “The film class … had all the students make movies for our final project, and a lot of them were surprisingly high quality. We all felt it was a shame more people wouldn’t see them,” said Stinson. To these two producers, the best part is getting to share their talent with a broader audience.

Not only is the admission free, but there will be a reception held afterwards – and yes, that includes free food. The best incentive, however, will be getting to see the familiar faces of friends you know up on the big screen, and in the rolling credits.