Logan Student Video Wins at Youth Film Festival

Three students won an award at the Project YouthView Film Festival in Alameda Thursday night.

Students Ignatius Nguyen, Mei-Guang Chen and Ryan Quilala won the Judge's Choice Award for their self-produced short, "Freedoms in Motion," according to a New Haven Unified School District press release.

The 30-second clip features a narration of the first amendment over a fast-forward video of students forming stick figures and the words "5 Freedoms" out of clay. (Click the thumbnail to the right to vew the video.)

The video was one of 10 finalists selected out of more than 60 submissions. It was aired during the festival Thursday night.

The students won $500, a private tour of Pixar Studios and a copy of Adobe Master Collection 5 - a multimedia software package valued at $1,600 that includes video, audio and web editing programs.

Among the festival judges was actor William H. Macy, who co-starred in crticially acclaimed indie films such as "Happiness," "Boogie Nights" and "Fargo." According to James Rardin, Electronic Media Production teacher at the high school, Macy personally sent a text message to the students telling them how much he enjoyed their video. 

The judges panel also included actor Steve Buscem of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and Def Jam record label founder Russell Simmons, among others. Judges made their selection based on technical achievement, subject matter, creativity and innovation.

Thursday night's achievement was the third time that Logan students reached the finals and the second time Logan students won the Judges Choice Award, according to the press release.