A team of five Huntington High School filmmakers captured second place honors in the 10 Day Film Challenge multi-state competition.
The filmmaking team consisting of Jennifer Low, Caitlyn Palermo, Grace Tyrrell, Tahiyat Akber and Jose Suarez won awards for Best Editing, Best Use of Character and Best Poster and took second place overall. About 80 schools submitted 270 films in the contest. The top 30 films were screened late last week.
“We are all so honored to have received this accomplishment,” Ms. Low said. “It means the world to us to see all of our hard work pay off.”
Created by Ladies and Gent Pictures, “Binge Watch” was also been nominated in the categories of Best Cinematography, Best Cinematic Technique, Best Opening Titles, Best Screenplay and Best Underclassmen Directed Film.
“We were very excited to have one of our three submitted films make the top 30, but today’s screening was the tip of the iceberg,” said art teacher Heather Swan, who leads the high school’s video arts program. “We were recognized in eight of the 14 categories and won for Best Editing, Best Use of Character and Best Poster was well as winning second place overall, which was incredibly thrilling. I am so proud of these five hardworking film students and hope everyone comes out to see ‘Binge Watch’ at the 10th Annual Film Festival on May 28.”
10 Day Film Challenge contest rules require participants to write, shoot, edit and score a movie in just 10 school days. The teenagers can only work on their film on school property. No one is permitted to work on the project on weekends or at home.
“I’m extremely grateful for the supportive faculty as well as the arts program at Huntington High School,” Ms. Tyrrell said. “I’ve seen myself grow immensely in film at this high school and this year’s 10 Day Film Challenge is an example of this. I’d like to thank Mrs. Swan for this improvement as well as Mr. [Joseph] Cohen for letting us use his classroom.”
This year’s 10 Day Film Challenge features a major change from past editions. The state level contest was discontinued and replaced with a multi-state challenge, which included significantly more films and competitors.
“The growth in our 10 Day group, ‘Ladies and Gent’ was just amazing,” Ms. Palermo said. “We were able to create something really special and the awards speak for themselves.”
“Binge Watch” was written by Ms. Palermo. It was filmed by Ms. Tyrrell and directed by Ms. Low. Mr. Suarez edited the film. It stars Ms. Akber.
“Binge Watch” along with more than 20 short films created by students will be shown at Huntington High School’s 10th annual film festival at Cinema Arts Centre on Tuesday, May 28 at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
“It was an honor to be ranked second out of 270 other videos,” Mr. Suarez said. “The achievement really shows how strong this video group really is when working together.”
The Ladies and Gent Pictures team is more enthusiastic than ever after garnering second place honors is such a prestigious and difficult contest.
“I’m so proud of my team,” Ms. Akber said. “Being nominated for and winning so many awards is no easy feat.”
Watch the Huntington filmmakers’ reaction to capturing second place by logging onto Instagram and visiting hhs_video.
