MCVTS digital film students win recognition at festivals

MCVTS digital film students win recognition at festivals

MCVTS digital film students have received awards and recognition at three film festivals showcasing the work of high school students.

At the 24^th Derek Freese Youth Media Film Festival at Temple University in Philadelphia, three MCVTS students won awards, while six films by MCVTS students were selected for viewing from a record number of submissions.

The award for Best Fiction Drawings was won by Jack Tolnes, a senior from Monroe Township, for “Drawings.” The Best Editing nod went to Mason Dugasz, a senior from Jamesburg, for “Humanoid.” And Sammy Horan, a sophomore from Milltown, and Marlayna O'Brien, a sophomore from Edison, received the Audience Award for “Burn.”

Three additional MCVTS student films were chosen as official selections:
“Four-Dimensional World” by Maria Martinez, a senior from Carteret; “Flora” by Aviel Bolesa, a senior from Woodbridge, and “The Last Slice” by Devyn Arroyo, a senior from Perth Amboy.

Four MCVTS student films were named official selections at the sixth Artists Alike Film Festival at Investors Bank Performing Arts Center in Sewell in Gloucester County.

“Internally Inflamed” by Nidhi Patel, a senior from Old Bridge, and Maria Martinez, a senior from Carteret, was named Best Experimental Film and will be screened at the 18^th Garden State Film Festival March 25-29 in Asbury Park/

“Ambit of Hues: by Alexandra Mars, a sophomore from North Brunswick, and Marlayna O'Brien was first runner-up in the Experimental category.

Other official selections were “Drawings” by Jack Tolnes and “Humanoid” by Mason Dugasz, both in the Narrative category.

The Artists Alike festival is sponsored by the New Jersey School Boards Association, the Garden State Film Festival, the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, and Steven Van Zandt’s TeachRock initiative and Rock and Roll Forever Foundation.

“I’m very proud of our students’ continued success,” digital film instructor Louis Libitz said. “It gives them the opportunity to compete with all the other high school programs in the state.”

In addition to digital filmmaking, the MCVTS School of the Arts, on the East Brunswick Campus, offers career majors in theater, dance, graphic design/commercial art and illustration, multimedia art and design, arts technology, and music performance and technology.

All of the recognized films are posted on the digital film website:

http://www.digitalfilmmcvts.com/selected-screenings--awards.html.