A group of Vancouver students will take their silent films from the classroom projector to the silver screen this week.
Three films by Vancouver Public Schools students will be presented at the International Youth Silent Film Festival Pacific Northwest Regional competition at Portland’s Hollywood Theatre. Films produced by filmmakers 20 or younger will be shown Monday and Wednesday.
Films by Patrick Mox of Thomas Jefferson Middle School; Logan Williams of Vancouver School of Arts and Academics; and Brendan Nash, Jonathan Lane and Seth Yoshinobu of Skyview High School will be shown. Films from young filmmakers across the globe will be premiered at the festival, and the top three finalists will move on to the final competition next month.
For Skyview High School’s group of students, the competition presented a unique challenge for an otherwise verbose group of teenage boys.
“We’re used to having a lot of dialogue,” said sophomore Lane.
Students had to select a piece of music under a theme — in the boys’ case, a western — and film a short, silent film set to the music. The film, “Detention,” shows the boys’ shenanigans after one gets detention.
“The story can’t be too complex,” sophomore Yoshinobu said.
The story ended up being a happy accident after an attempt at a spaghetti western-style dodgeball game proved too difficult during school hours. After all, you’re not technically supposed to talk in detention.
“It worked out in our favor,” Yoshinobu said.
Video production teacher Nancy Wistrand’s students are used to success. Lane and a fellow student, Nick Krane, are state finalists for a SkillsUSA Television Production contest. The pair will travel to Louisville, Ky., in June for the conference, which celebrates career and technical education students across the country. Awards from the organization line the wall of Wistrand’s classroom.
“It’s really exciting,” she said. “I’m thrilled whenever my students produce good work.”
For the three students, a chance to take the class has ignited a desire to pursue careers in the film industry. Using industry-grade equipment, students film commercials, concerts for public access channels and other pieces of film “for a purpose,” Wistrand said.
Nash, who hopes to be a film editor, said he always had an interest in the industry. But the hands-on experience in Wistrand’s class cemented his desire to pursue the field.
“I probably wouldn’t have found this passion,” Nash said.
Doors to the International Youth Silent Film Festival open at 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 N.E. Sandy Blvd. The festival is free for students, $10 for general admission and $8 for seniors. The Thomas Jefferson Middle School student’s film will be shown Monday, and the Skyview group’s and the VSAA student’s films will be shown Wednesday.
