Monday (Apr. 17) was a big night for students of F.R Haythorne Junior High.
The Grade 9 students in the school's film production class got to participate in the 19th annual Hawk Film Festival, hosted at the Sherwood Park Cineplex.
The lobby of the cinema displayed a row of posters for the festival's shorts, all of which were written, edited, and filmed by students of the class.
In total 17 films were shown, with each utilizing some sort of split screen, a filmmaking technique famously used for phone calls or to show multiple character reactions.
The short films covered a variety of genres, from horror to romance, and even a few comedies. One of these shorts, Shatter, featured a stylistic depiction of a knife-wielding student sneaking through the school.
“I enjoyed making my film,” said Kaden Craig, director of Shatter. “I highly recommend the film production class for anyone interested in movies. I got to work with awesome people, and I'd do it again if I could.”
The festival ended with the feature short, Trouble, directed by festival founder Monty Drozda. The film starred Ethan Sand and Brady Hedwig as two students who get in trouble after throwing eggs at cars.
In the short, Sand got to display his parkour skills through an elaborate chase scene. Sand said that this was his first year in the class.
"I've always loved film, and just starting this year I got really into it, and now I just want to make films all the time," said Sand.
Sand added that it was insane to see his short film in a bonified cinema.
"It was very loud compared to watching it at home, but it was really cool seeing it all on the big screen."
The Hawk Film Festival was started in 2004 by Drozda, who had also brought the film production curriculum to the school.
“This is the second largest Hawk Film Festival we’ve ever had," said Drozda. "The 17 great student films demonstrate planning, creativity and a grasp of key film concepts to produce solid work and develop many transferrable skills."
"I’m very proud of this year’s film production class."