Ridgewood Middle School Film Festival Built For The Streaming Age

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — The George Washington and Benjamin Franklin Middle School Film Festival is being hosted virtually on YouTube this year.

Usually held at Warner Theatre, the festival was moved to an online, streaming format this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and related social distancing mandates. It is hosted by film club advisors Dan Luts and Jason Ordini.

The festival was judged by Drew Dernavich, artist, author and regular cartoonist for The New Yorker; Annie Gillies, an executive producer at MTV Networks; Quinn Marcus, writer, actor and comedian; Ryan Ling, founder and CEO of Birdbrain Productions; and GW science teacher and photographer Thomas Wondra.

Luts posted the entries to his YouTube channel on June 2, according to a news release from Ridgewood Public Schools, and they have been viewed more than 3,000 times.

Winners have been announced for the categories of most experimental, stop motion animation, short film, animation and best documentary.

They are as follows:

• "Wake Up! To Sleep Deprivation" by Sam DiNovo — Best Documentary
• "Dream World" by Elyse Mathews — Best Animation
• "ISpies" by Raghav Shukla and Rohan Tipnis — Best Short Film
• "The Duel" by Alex Fiol — Best Stop Motion Animation
• "Shadow" by Sienna Speed and Myra Vasan — Most Experimental

Find the winning entries and more here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ItLmItVGC65q89K8sDgTA