Natick High Students Selected For Film Festival

NATICK, MA — For the first time in the MetroWest, students are able to showcase their films in a regional film festival. Two groups of Natick High School students were named among the 12 finalists in the MetroWest Film Festival. The festival is hosted by The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN) and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and will be held on April 5-7 at TCAN.

Both groups of students made silent films in their video production and digital photography class under the direction of their teacher, Lisa Olivieri. One of the student groups from Natick High School was made up entirely of underclassmen. Three freshman students, Briana Schneekloth, Ryan Kaplan, and Fifi Schultz, and one sophomore, Peter McGinn, created their silent film "The Artist." The film was inspired by their classes unit on silent films and the Charlie Chaplin movies they watched. "When we got this project we were trying to think of something that was original but also not too out there," Schneekloth said, adding that the desire for a chase scene is what blossomed the idea for the film as a whole.

The film is a classic silent, black and white piece that follows an artist whose model refuses to stand still. Each member of the group played a different role in its creation The two actors were Schultz and Kaplan, Schneekloth was the editor and McGinn was the cinematographer.

The class is an elective and students like Kaplan choose to take it. "I was really interested in taking film, my brother took it and brought home these really cool films that I was really inspired by," Kaplan said. Schneekloth had a bit of a different experience. The class was a fall back choice after she didn't make it into her first choice elective, but she's glad she decided to stay. "I chose this and I fell in love with it," she said.

This is the first year of the MetroWest Student Film Festival and the organizers at TCAN and Walnut Hill said they weren't sure what to expect in the beginning. "We lived with a lot of uncertainty," laughed Margaret Funkhouser, Co-chair of the festival and director of writing, film & media arts at Walnut Hill School for the Arts. Funkhouser, her co-chair Nicola Anderson, Erin Basile, director of TCAN programming and Kerry Fraser, TCAN marketing coordinator, worked from scratch to bring the festival to life. "We didn't know how many submissions we were going to get— we were hopeful," Basile said.

That hope paid off with 40 qualified submissions coming in and the finalists representing six different towns in the area. Within the 12 groups who were named finalists, there are 42 students participating in total. A panel of judges ranging from college professors to local filmmakers judged the pieces and named the finalists. "It came down at the end to storytelling," Funkhouser said.

It was important to the group that the festival be a bridge to young filmmakers in the area to connect and view each other's work. "Filmmaking is such a collaborative process," Funkhouser said adding that allowing students to view their films in a real theater with their peers was a valuable experience.

Kaplan and Schneekloth said they are a bit nervous but still excited for the festival. "I'm not so nervous to be judged but to show it to our peers— I'm excited to see their work though," Schneekloth said.

Tickets for the three day festival, which includes multiple screenings and a Q & A with the filmakers, are available to the public through the TCAN Box Office. The cost of a single screening is $5. A discounted Festival Pass to attend all three days is $12. To purchase tickets: natickarts.org/mwsff