It was a packed house at the 19th annual Hawk Film Festival, which took place in Sherwood Park on Thursday.
Presented by the Film Production program at F.R. Haythorne Junior High, this festival featured over a dozen short films by the programs Grade 9 students at the Sherwood Park Community Centre’s Agora.
This year’s theme was ‘Flashback’, where students analyzed the use of flashbacks in films before creating short films which incorporated the concept.
The festival featured a panel of judges, including a member of the National Film Board of Canada, and alumni from the Film Production program.
The event ended off with their feature short ‘String Theory’, which was directed by the program’s teacher, Monty Drozda, and starring the students themselves.
After the short films there was the HAWKSTER award ceremony where the students were brought to the stage to accept their awards.
One of the winners was Jett Foreman, who had won Best Actor with his short “Fade to Black”, which took inspiration from film noir and grizzled detective stories.
“Film noirs are pretty cool films, so I just wanted to make something dark and in that kind of realm,” said Foreman. “Teamwork is the most important thing I’ve learned and working with people I wouldn’t usually hang out with outside of school.”
As for Best Actress, that was won by Sara Attar, who starred alongside her twin sister Salma for the short “Green-Eyed Twins”, which used real footage of the twins as children for the short.
“It was awesome, honestly,” said Attar. “You’ve just got to keep working, it’s really hard, but you’ve just got to keep going.”
“Green-Eyed Twins” won more awards than any other short in the night, taking home Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress.
Here’s a full list of the winner for the 19th annual Hawk Film Festival:
Best Use of Assignment – Sara Attar and Tegan Seward for “Light Bulb Moment”.
Best Cast – Abby Greenfield, Elanor Reid, Emma Ballard, and Cailyn Harrington for “Snickerdoodles”.
Best Supporting Actress – Seanna Levac for “Blinded by Her”
Best Supporting Actor – Kolton Carter for “Blinded by Her”
Best Screenplay – Blair Kibbler, Kaylee Quilty, and Kara Campbell for “The Otherside”
Best Editor – Ashlyn Mok for “In Warm Fall”
Best Picture (tied) – Ashlyn Mok and Kameo Hubert for “In Warm Fall”, and Tegan Seward, Sara Attar, Salma Attar, and Jocelyn Suelzle for “Green-Eyed Twins”
Best Actor – Jett Foreman for “Fade to Black”
Best Actress – Sara Attar for “Green-Eyed Twins”
Best Cinematography – Ashlyn Mok and Kameo Hubert for “In Warm Fall”
Best Cinematics – Mya Stirling for “Two Worlds Collide”
Best Director – Tegan Seward for “Green-Eyed Twins”
The Hawk Film Festival has been running since 2005.
