Westport Youth Film Festival To Screen 65 Films on May 10

PHOTO CAPTION: Team WYFF are, from left, 1st row: Catherine Aeppel, Maia Canter, Ian Phillips; 2nd row: Brian Kaplan, Matt Kalmans, Alex Curran, Diana Snyder (director), Jai Peiter, Derek Zwyer; 3rd row: Jon Karmen, Jamie Shankman, Jaime Lapa, Saskia Van Daalen, Ross Karlan, Kelli Marks; 4th row: Katie Hacala; Damian Wiseman; Gus Ruchman.

The Fifth Annual Westport Youth Film Festival (WYFF), a program of the Westport Arts Center, will screen 65 films throughout the day on Saturday, May 10, 11a.m. to 6 p.m., at Bedford Middle School, 88 North Avenue, Westport, from 11:00 a.m. to 6 p.m., in two theatres.

WYFF is the only youth film festival in the world run by high school students showing films made by high school students. This year WYFF received approximately 300 films from local, domestic and foreign filmmakers who are currently in high school. The entries were first viewed by Team WYFF, who chose 65 films to be shown at the Festival.

Team WYFF members are: Catherine Aeppel, Matt Kalmans, Jon Karmen, Ian Phillips, Emma Weinstein and Derek Zwyer, all of Westport; Maia Canter, Alex Curran, Katie Hacala, Ross Karlan, Jaime Lapa, Kelli Marks, Jai Peiter, Jamie Shankman, Saskia Van Daalen and Damian Wiseman, all of Weston; Brian Kaplan of Wilton; Gus Ruchman of Cos Cob; and Diana Snyder, director, of West Harrison.

Films are 30 minutes or under in length and assigned to nine categories: drama, comedy, music video, public service announcement (PSA), documentary, animation, experimental, facing history and WYFF Jr. (younger than high school students).

"The list of distinguished professionals judging films and speaking at WYFF this year is remarkable. From Sundance winners to presidents of production companies, the prestige of this year’s lineup is the best we have ever had," said WYFF director Diana Snyder.

WYFF’s drama entries will be judged by Peter Sarsgaard, the Golden Globe-nominated actor who has been seen on screen in over 30 films, including “Boys Don't Cry” (1999), “Garden State” (2004), “Kinsey” (2004), “Flightplan” (2005) and “Jarhead” (2005).

Comedy films will be judged by Mark Poirier, first time screenwriter of the new movie “Smart People” (2008), which recently hit theatres on April 11. Poirier is working on a novel which is set in Weston, CT, his current place of residence.

Judging music films will be Ross Martin, senior vice president and head of programming for mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network. Martin oversees the development and production of mtvU's Emmy Award-winning programming, featuring the best new music, pro-social campaigns, original series, branded entertainment and student-produced content on-air, online, on mobile and on campuses nationwide.
The public service announcement (PSA) films will be judged by Anthony Bregman, who has produced a myriad of films including “Lovely & Amazing” (2001), “Thumsucker” (2005), “Friends with Money” (2006), the Academy Award-nominated “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2003) and “The Savages” (2007).

Juror for the documentary films will be Ellen Peck, director for development at Save the Children. She is an adviser and producer of documentary films, including the film “Born into Brothels,” which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2005.

Animated film entries will be judged by Alan Katz, known for his children’s books “Take Me Out to the Bathtub” and “I’m Still Here in the Bathtub.” Katz has worked not only in literature, but also as a print and television writer for the animated series “Taz-Mania,” Disney’s “Raw Toonage” and “Goof Troop, Kids Are People Too” and a number of Nickelodeon programs.

Selecting the experimental film winner will be Isabel Vega, a 2008 Oscar nominee for best documentary short subjects and a 2008 honorable mention for short filmmaking award at the Sundance Film Festival for the film “La Corona.”
Juror for the facing history award will be Tracy Garrison-Feinberg, senior program associate for “Facing History and Ourselves.” This award was established in recognition of the outstanding national high school curriculum that was created to address relevant social issues.

Judging all films entered into the WYFF Jr. competition will be Rob Meyer, winner of a 2008 honorable mention for short filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival for his short film “Aquarium.”

Film industry professionals will lead two panel discussions: “Back to the Future: How Historical Events Have Determined What We Watch” at 2 p.m.; and “Can’t Stop the Beat: The Influence of Music in the Movies” at 3 p.m. WYFF’s panels will provide a forum for young, aspiring filmmakers to interact with professionals as well as to inform the larger community about the nuances of the film industry.
Serving on the panel, “Back to the Future: How Historical Events Have Determined What We Watch,” will be Tracy Garrison-Feinberg, senior program associate for “Facing History and Ourselves”; Susan Granger, film critic whose pieces have appeared in over 30 publications, including The New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and Playboy; and Andrew Karpen, Weston resident and president of Focus Features, the production company which has brought audiences the Academy Award-winning films “The Pianist” (2002), “Lost in Translation” (2002), “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2003), “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) and “Atonement” (2007). Additionally, this year Karpen arranged for WYFF to present an advance screening of “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” as a fundraiser.

Panelists for “Can’t Stop the Beat: The Influence of Music In The Movies” will be Ray Tintori, whose short film “Death to the Tinman” premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, receiving an honorable mention for short filmmaking, and who is currently writing his next film, as well as writing scripts for other filmmaker’s major motion pictures and directing music videos for pop groups such as MGMT; and Robert Hein, who has worked as a sound engineer for over 30 years. His films include “Sophie’s Choice” (1982), “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001), “Match Point” (2005), “Music and Lyrics” (2007) and “Radio Days” (1987), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award.
There will be two additional panel discussions preceded by special screenings. “Autism in Our World,” a film created and produced by Alexa DiCambio, a senior at Norwalk High School, will be shown at 4 p.m. The story of a young boy living in Westport, the film will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmaker, the mother of the child featured in the film and a representative from Autism Speaks, and moderated by Nancy Heller, business and development director of the Westport Arts Center. Two short films produced by Ruby Dog Films will be followed by a conversation led by the two Staples High School filmmakers, Jake Andrews and Jon Karmen, about the role of violence in film.

The awards ceremony will be at 6 p.m. Eight of the winners will receive an award designed and donated for WYFF by Tiffany & Co., with a special director’s award given to a local filmmaker. The WYFF Jr. winner, of middle school age, will receive a model BMW designed by Robert Rauschenberg. The Simon Pearce Award will be presented to a professional in the industry who has impacted WYFF. An after-party featuring a local band is scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m.

WYFF sponsors are Cablevision, Maurer Family Foundation, Tiffany & Co., Paul Newman Foundation, 95.9 Fox, Steaz, Simon Pearce, Bowtie Cinema, Gotham Sound & Communications, Inc., Broadcast Film Critics Association.

The Westport Arts Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating arts experiences that contribute to individual growth and enrich the community. The Westport Arts Center is supported with funds from The Artur and Heida Hermanns Holde Foundation, Inc., Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, National Endowment for the Arts, Connecticut Light & Power, Fairfield County Bank, Gault, Inc., Main Street Resources, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, and Westport Resources.

For more information and a complete WYFF schedule, contact Sandy Lefkowitz at Westport Arts Center, (203) 222-7070, ext. 110 or visit www.wyff.net.