On April 27, the Advanced TV and Film Production students traveled to Neuqua Valley High School to compete in the 26th annual Midwest Media Educators Association (MMEA) film festival. GBS student films placed in numerous categories, including first place finishes in Commercial, 7-day Film Challenge, Cinematography and Documentary.

According to Film Instructor Julie Benca,   the festival brings students back to class with a new enthusiasm for film and encourages many of her students to consider film as a career.

“Every year after the MMEA festival, the students come back energized and inspired by the great work that they saw at the festival,” Benca said. “I think that the MMEA festival definitely makes students more interested in filmmaking as it encourages them to produce their best work in hopes that one day they might get an award at the state film festival.”

For senior Liz Steel, who participated in the festival her junior and senior year, the MMEA festival was an experience that made her think of pursuing film more seriously.

“[Last year] was really cool,” Steel said. “I think that was one of the reasons why I considered pursuing film as a career. [I got the feeling that] I can actually do this; I’m pretty good at it.”

This year, students placed second in Commercial, second in Dramatic Narrative, second in School Promotion, third in Cinematography and third in News Package along with the aforementioned first place winners. Benca considers the film festival a great opportunity for her  students’ hard work to be recognized and to show how they’ve grown as filmmakers.

“Watching my students receive recognition for their work made me feel incredibly proud,” Benca said. “I’ve been working with some of these students for almost three years so it’s really exciting to see them develop as filmmakers. Even over the course of the past year, some of the award winners improved their filmmaking skills dramatically, so it was really exciting to see that all of their hard work paid off.”

Junior Jack Abrahams, who submitted five projects for competition and won two first place prices in Cinematography and Commercial, agrees with Benca in that his work has notably improved since he’s started TV at GBS.

“It’s so different, even comparing it to the beginning of this year or the end of last year,” Abrahams said. “I can just tell that I’ve spent a lot of time going out shooting myself and becoming more invested in the projects I’m working on.”

Abrahams also believes that participating in and winning at the film festival has improved his interest in following film in the future, as receiving recognition for his work improves his confidence in what he’s doing.

“[Film] is one of the only things in school that I really enjoy doing, so if I knew that I was going to college and getting a job I would much rather go into the film industry than studying something like business and working a desk job,” Abrahams said. “So actually being able to win some big awards at the festival definitely helps build my confidence in pursuing film in the future whether that be in college or something else.”

Benca thinks that students can gain a lot from winning awards, but she also believes that students can learn from the work of other students and from hearing the winners talk about their work in interviews.

“For the students who win awards, I hope that they are proud of themselves for the great work that they have done and that it reinforces the mentality to create really great work,” Benca said. “I hope that all the students who attend the festival are inspired by the work that they see and by the student interviews that take place on stage for the first place winners. They can learn a lot by listening to other young filmmakers talk about the art and craft of filmmaking.”