STAFFORD — The fourth annual Stafford County Public Schools Film Festival will take place at Colonial Forge High School.
The Film Festival was inspired by A.G. Wright Middle School students that wanted to make mini-feature.
Following the first mini film festival, it led to the creation of the A.G. Wright film club, with the help of club mentor Robert Long who inspired the countywide film festival.
“I contacted Gifted Resource teachers and video production teachers around the county to see if their students would like to submit films to the SCPS film festival,” Long said. “The only rules were that students needed to be involved with the pre-production, production, and post-production of their films. The second year we held our festival at [Mountvain View High School]. For the past two years, the film festival has been held at Colonial Forge High School.”
The Festival will include 20 films including a full feature and a mini-feature. Most students across the county submit film shorts 30 seconds to seven minutes in length.
“The films are student produced,” Long said. “The process of making a film is a very laborious process. A seven-minute film from start to finish could result in 30-40 hours to complete, from the writing to the final editing.”
In addition, the films clubs bring in volunteers to help the club members learn the art of filmmaking.
“We have volunteers [such as] Phil Snow, our parent volunteer, teaches an in-school field trip on Adobe premiere software, he also teaches video production during club meetings,” Long said. “Emilee Pelayo is our newest volunteer. She is a graduate of the Art Institute of Washington.”
The Stafford County Public Schools Film Festival is open to the public on May 11 and 12 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event is free, but the festival is asking for a $5 donation.
“We want the public to come out and see what our SCPS independent filmmakers are producing,” Long said. “The event is an opportunity to see the best filmmakers in Stafford County Public Schools.”
