More than 100 videos were submitted to Monache High School’s Multimedia and Technology Academy for the 4th Annual Porterville Film Festival held on Wednesday evening at the Galaxy Theatre in Porterville.
MTA festival director and video production teacher at Monache High Bobby Styles welcomed everyone and said they were excited and looking forward to showing some of the incredible work made by students from all over the San Joaquin Valley.
He especially thanked the Galaxy Theatre Team and Manager Belia Sierra, Porterville Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Nate Nelson, Monache High School Principal Shondra Walker, The PUSD School Board, The PUSD Pathway Office, and all of the parents, judges, and advisors that participated in this festival. “Thank you for all that you have done. And most importantly the film festival sponsors Kiwanis of Porterville and Galaxy Theater, as well as MTA,” Styles said. Styles also thanked Ramon Ceballos, Esperanza Garcia, Yvette Ledesma, and Jimena Guerrero Tapia for their assistance.
"We also thank the jury team. We couldn't have done it without them. And thank you Kate Smith from the Barn Theater. "Give it up for her!" said Stylea
“And most of all thank you to all the students for their excellent work!” Styles said the videos keep getting better and better, and they picked the best of the best for the festival.
Parents, teachers, friends and classmates from all over the Central Valley watched 10 high school videos and 4 middle school videos that would be judged by the audience for the audience awards during the evening. Styles said all the videos were presented to the Festival Jury Team from CMAC Fresno, Fresno State MCJ Program, KVPR (Central Valley's NPR), Porterville Barn Theater, Porterville College, and the Tulare County Office of Education.
Local schools with nominated videos were: Alta Sierra Intermediate, Career Technical Education Center, Clark Intermediate, El Diamante High School, Granite Hills High School, Highland High School, Monache High School, Pleasant View School, Redwood High School, South High School, and West High School.
Styles explained students were given a prompt, and given four weeks to complete their videos. They were required to make a short film in the science fiction genre, and it had to include at least one flashback scene. They watched the top scoring videos that didn't receive Jury awards, but were voted on for audience awards.
The Audience Award for High School division films were:
3rd Place Audience Award: Singularity by Andrew Cardenas, Giselle Flores, and Lucia Halcon from Career Technical Education Center (CTEC).
2nd Place Audience Awards: Interval by Sophia Martinez, Jayla Parker, Leslie Rivera and Kyra Soto from El Diamante High School.
1st place Audience Award: David's Awesome and Musical AdventurebyEmmett Bergen, Ramon Ceballos, Ramses Gomez,and Ryen Recek from Monache High School.
Jo Nell Mauck came to see her grandson Emmett Bergen and his team's video, "We won first place." She said, "It was delightful and uplifting. With great music. “
Other awards were:
Audience Award - Middle School Division films:
1st place: Stalker from Alta Sierra Intermediate by Duncan Baxter, Logan Forester, Jake Padgett, and Sahibjot Singh
2nd place: No Way Home from Clark Intermediate by Johana Earley, Colette Elizalde, Jeremiah Ochoa, and Melanie Zepeda
There were four winners of Jury awards.
For the Short Film category, in the high school division, these were the winners:
3rd place: "Forestera" by Deven Sullivan, Violeta Marysol Morales, Nicolas Bolanos, and Moises Valencia from Career Technical Education Center (CTEC) in Bakersfield. "What a great video. Everyone should be very proud of what they do. This was an amazing film and I got to work with an amazing team." said Bolanos. "
Thank you Nicholas Bolanos. It was a wonderful experience," said Morales. "And it took a lot of guts."
"We have the best job in the world," said Styles, "I get to work with such creative people. And everyone should be proud of all the films they made."
2nd place: "Silent Orbit" by Jesus Rivera-Lopez, Hannah Johnson, Lily Seargeant, and Tanner Hoffman from Redwood High School in Visalia,
1st place: "Messages From the Stars" by Jett Zwahlen, Adrien Bernadino, and Sarah Garcia-Marquez from El Diamante High School in Visalia.
"We are so proud of Jett," said his dad Lee Zwahlen, "he'd done such a great job on the video."
And for the Short Film category, in the middle school division, these were the winners:
1st place Jury Award for Short Film "Mind Games" by Miles Mellon, Riley Gentz, Maxwell DePartee, and Melanie Zepeda from Clark Intermediate in Clovis. It scored higher than any of the videos, even the high school ones, Styles said.
"It was fun to make," said Mellon. "I started acting," said Gentz.
Both Mellon and Gentz received their awards, and awards on behalf of DePartee and Zepeda, as well as a gift from the film festival sponsors.
"We have the best job in the world," said Styles, "I get to work with such creative people. And everyone should be proud of all the films they made."