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Shawnigan grads shine at NYC film festival

NYC film festival finalists
Last year, a group of Shawnigan students led by Freddy Wang (producer) and Byron Chang (director), created a student film, “Origami.” The film was submitted to the All American Student Film Festival in New York, among others. 
 
A Shawnigan news article gives some more detail about the process that went into the creation of the film.  A link to the final version of the film can be found here. Since then, Freddy and Byron have both gone on to start their first year at two prestigious universities, focusing on furthering their film careers at Emerson College in Boston and Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, respectively.
 
A few weeks ago, we were delighted to receive news that “Origami” had been selected for inclusion in the All American High School Film Festival!  There was also a confidential hint that the film was in the running to be up for an award. 
 
Given this news, the decision was made to attend the festival and, travelling from their respective schools, Freddy and Byron were greeted by Mr. Trafford and Mr. Beaudry. Together we enjoyed a weekend chock-full of networking with other student filmmakers and industry professionals.
 
Screening the films, it became immediately evident how incredibly tough the competition was for the awards, and how diverse the submissions from around the world could be.  This only served to intensify the shock and awe that “Origami” was one of five films nominated for the prestigious Best Cinematography award!
 
Ultimately, the award went to a fellow competitor's film, which had received multiple nominations across numerous categories.  Freddy and Byron, while obviously preferring a win, understood fully the significance of being nominated in this category, and the weight it would carry forward with each of them into their careers.
 
Note: The All American High School Film Festival (AAHSFF) is the largest international student film festival in the world. Of the thousands of films submitted to the festival this year, just over 900 films were selected for screening (in Times Square, New York).  Of the screened films, less than 100 were nominated for awards across approximately 20 categories. In the awards categories, most are genre-specific, such as Best Drama, while a select few win Best Overall awards, judged against all submitted films, regardless of genre.  Of these awards are categories such as Best Directed, Audience Favourite, Best Cinematography, and of course, Best Film Overall. 
 
By Mr. Beaudry.

Thanks to Mr. Beaudry for photography.
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