Film Studies Students Tap Into the Napa Valley Film Festival
Justin-Siena film studies students are realizing the distinct advantage of having a prestigious film festival right in their own backyard. In addition to access to special guest speakers and networking opportunities during the Napa Valley Film Festival, students are taking advantage of film making opportunities as well, thanks to the Cameo Cinema’s Family Film Festival.
On the final day of the Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF), four of the top award winning films from the Cameo Cinema’s Family Film Festival (held on Memorial Day weekend), are screened at the Cameo Cinema in St. Helena. For three years running, aspiring filmmakers from Justin-Siena have taken the grand prize at the springtime festival, and so Justin-Siena has enjoyed a great and evolving partnership with the event coordinators and film industry professionals.
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Last spring Megan Steiger ’17 and Mac Armstrong-Brown '17 took grand prize for their “abstract and thought-provoking” “Deliverance of the Mind.” [VIEW] In their animated short, armies of line-figure people await their turn to submit to a supreme being’s cleansing machine to purge impure thoughts – until one person urges others to rebel against the theft of creativity and independence.
According to Film Studies Instructor and Film Club moderator Mr. Louis Pierotti ’72, “Our affiliation with both festivals provides tremendous visibility to our student filmmakers by providing them with ever increasing exposure and an exponentially larger viewing audiences. It's great exposure for both our students and our program. This is an invaluable opportunity for students to have their hard work showcased in front of some of very important and well-connected people in the local and national filmmaking industry.”
In addition to student work being encouraged and ultimately put on display, Justin-Siena students also benefit from the expert talent in town and the connections with NVFF personnel who can facilitate speaking engagements.
Mr. Pierotti, who organizes two Film Forums a year as part of the expansive Justin-Siena Arts calendar is leveraging these connections. In so doing he has filled his two slots for the year with impressive speakers.
“Since representatives from Cameo Family Film Festival and NVFF started coming to our Film Forums last year when we hosted Creature Effects Artist Mark Rappaport ’72 and “Despicable Me” screenwriter Cinco Paul, we began an affiliation that led to the appearance of Mark Kirkland at this year's Fall Film Forum, and I was able to schedule our Spring Film Forum guest Anthony Lucero (writer/director/Bay Area Film Maker) through our affiliation with the Cameo Cinema and the Napa Valley Film Festival and a special benefit screening I attended there.”
On Monday, November 14, award-winning filmmaker and director, Mark Kirkland, was the featured guest at the Fall Film Forum. This three-time primetime Emmy Award winning director known for his work on The Simpsons had just given a special presentation at and the Napa Valley Film Festival, called “The Origin of Film, ” which he adapted for his presentation to the students. Demonstrating and discussing antique, silent era hand crank cameras, Mr. Kirkland dazzled students with his passion for the pioneers of movie-making. Two years ago his own silent, short film, “The Movie Picture Co.” was featured at the NVFF.
The Film Forum topic was particularly timely according to Mr. Pierotti, as students are delving into the silent film genre in class and currently creating their own silent films as their semester project. Who knows, one of these silent shorts just may find its way to the Cameo Cinema’s Family Film Festival.
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Director and filmmaker Mark Kirkland answers questions at the Fall Film Forum
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Film Studies Instructor Mr. Louis Pierotti '72 and Director Mark Kirkland
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Students get to take a turn on the hand crank movie camera and they learned about the art of the silent film.
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Justin-Siena High School
Justin-Siena is a Lasallian Catholic college preparatory community that serves young people in grades 9–12.