Revere Students Awarded Ninth Annual Film Festival Honors

By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor

Paul Revere Charter Middle School hosted its ninth annual Student Film Festival on Friday, May 12—complete with a red carpet, snacks and a screening of the films.

All Revere students were welcome to submit a film for consideration under a range of categories, including commercial, live action short, music video, public service announcement and animation.

“It’s a really fun evening,” sixth-grade Revere teacher and event organizer Jon Hyman said to the Palisadian-Post. “It’s a great way to celebrate the creative minds of our students. It’s all about story development: Telling a story, the art of storytelling … that’s at the heart of every type of film, and our students are learning that lesson in a really fun way. [The film festival] is a nice celebration of their efforts.”

Professionals from the entertainment industry were invited to watch and score the films, determining third-, second- and first-place winners in each category.

This year’s judges were Julia Miranda, Gabe Sachs, Francisca Kachler, Tom Costain, Fred Coury, Aspen Ramsdell, Erica Rosbe and Frank Wolf.

The 2023 winners for best documentary are Theodore Mihalev’s “YouTubeDirected” in third place, Sarah Hajmomenian’s “Fight for Human Rights” in second place, and Joshua Cole Wood and Daniel Fridman’s “The Invasion of the Virus” in first.

For best commercial, “Alpha Spray” by Taryn Leishman and Amy Portillo earned third place, “Roomba” by Sarah Schmidt and Zoey Morris earned second place, and Ethan Jackson’s “No Way Neighbor” rang in first.

In the best live action category, Pablo Ortega’s “Curiosity Killed The Cat” placed third, “The Case” by Tabby Kopple placed second and “Alarm Clocked” by Lincoln Bruno placed first.

For best music video, “Top Gun Anthem” by Isabella and Abigail James placed in third, and “Someday We’ll All Be Free” by Ethan Jackson placed second. There was a tie for first place, given to “Government (Rapp Snitches Knishes Parody)” by Zachary Patawaran and Sebastian Rogers, and “Global Stress” by Ryan Hajmomenian.

In best public service announcement, “Teachers: An Endangered Species?” by Jackson placed second and “Trash” by Emma Bolch placed first.

For best animation, “Bear Feat” by Joshua Cole Wood placed third, “Coffee” by Chloe Richmond placed second and Isabelle Duquesnay’s “Sustainable Oceans” earned first place.

The Lisa Robbins Founder Award was presented to the animated film “Mike’s Feelings” for the best class collaboration. The film was directed and edited by Yen Nguyen, with animations, narrations and writing from Lillyann Loya, Fitzum Womack, Logan Zemlak and Teyjas Peterson.

The film starred Joyce Casillas, Maveryll Diago, Joaquin Jack Victorin, Madison McNeel, Giovanni Ortiz, Loya, Womack, Zemlak and Peterson.

This year’s winners were presented with trophies.