[ot-caption title=”Pine Crest students walk the All-American High School Film Festival Red Carpet. (via Marci Danzansky)” url=”https://pcpawprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_1064.jpg”]

This past weekend, October 23^rd through October 27^th, ten students from the PCTV program traveled to New York City to attend the All American High School (AAHS) Film Festival. The AAHS film festival, founded by renowned filmmaker Andrew Jenks, recognizes talented filmmakers across the country for their outstanding achievements in the art of filmmaking. Andrew Jenks spoke about the festival at last year’s Student Television Network Convention, inspiring PCTV filmmakers to submit their work.

Freshman Ryan Felberbaum, sophomores , Justin Danzansky, Alex Edep, Audrey Houden, Sabine Katsoulos, and Seth Kelman, junior Ginger Hollander, and seniors Christian Hyatt and Alexis Kesselman hopped off the plane on Thursday night, unaware of the tiring, hectic, and exhilarating days ahead of them.

After early morning alarms and cups of Starbucks coffee, the group headed downtown to NYU. Seth Kelman’s brother, Pine Crest alumnus and NYU senior, Evan Kelman debuted his senior thesis film to the group and showed the group the amazing facilities of the Tisch film school. Later that day, the film team attended the AAHS opening ceremonies, hearing from notable filmmakers, including Danny Rose, producer of well-known shows including the new CBS drama, Scorpion. PC alumnus, BU freshman and filmmaker Bronsen Bloom, joined the group for the festival.

On Saturday, the PC students met up with PC alumna and NYU senior Lizzie Shapiro for breakfast near Central Park. After, the group walked down to the AMC Empire theatre to watch the screening of submitted student films. A true highlight of the trip, Pine Crest students watched in awe as their names lit up on the big screen for the first time. The Pine Crest films screened included While We Wait, a film by PC alumna and NYU freshman Mirella Cardoso with music by Alexis Kesselman, Backfired, a film by Bronsen Bloom and Seth Kelman with cinematography by Justin Danzansky and music by Alexis Kesselman, and three documentaries, Quicksand, Dogmatic, and Reconciliation, by PC alumnus Lance Oppenheim. Mr. Burgess, director of the Pine Crest Digital Media Department, stated, “It truly was hard to believe that the content was produced by High School students.  This was eye opening and inspiring for our team. After all, this was their first premier on the Big Screen and it was in Times Square, NYC…what an opportunity!”

That evening, students either slipped on their heels and or put on their jackets for a night on the Red Carpet. Greeted by a group of photographers and interviewers from MTV, student filmmakers graciously strutted across the carpet in their evening attire. The AAHS award show acknowledged the best of the best, with categories from Best Drama to Best Lead Actress. While We Wait was nominated as a finalist for Best Original Music Score, Backfired was nominated as a finalist for Best Editing, and Quicksand was nominated as a finalist for Best Documentary. Pine Crest left the awards show with a feeling of accomplishment and an excitement to continue creating film.

Sunday inevitably came around, and the students, exhausted and overwhelmed, headed to the last events of the festival. Seeing their names on the big screen once again during the screening of the top films of the festival brought the group a sense of pride. “It was truly amazing to see our films play on the Big Screen, and I think we were all honored to see our names and our job descriptions up there,” said Justin Danzansky. The students later found their picture featured on the AAHS Film Festival website and MTV news, a rewarding end to a great trip. After another workshop later that day, students packed up their belongings and headed to the airport, leaving the big city with the hopes of walking the red carpet once again.