Student shorts a huge hit

CinemaSalem owner Paul Van Ness, Clinton Williams, Tianny Marmolejos, Bryan De Leon and Chris Gaines of the Real to Reel Film School.

By Dinah Cardin

Ten impressive shorts were screened before an enthusiastic audience last night as part of the 2010 Five-Minute Student Film Contest, sponsored by CinemaSalem and Film North, a regional organzation of professional filmmakers.

Following the one hour screening, several audience members with film backgrounds mentioned that they were amazed at the quality of filmmaking.

The 50 contentestants were whittled down to 10 finalists from high schools in Danvers, Marblehead, Salem,the Landmark School and Triton Regional High. The three chosen winners, who took home cash prizes of up to $100, were from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and the Real to Reel Film School at Raw Art Works.

The evening was kicked off by an entertaining five-minute film on how to make a five-minute film. The third place winner was called “Koeun & Russel” by Bryan De Leon of Real to Reel about his brother and friend who are both artists. In sped up time, the two collaborate on a large piece of art as they put into words how making art helps them focus and relax.

The second place winners were Jason Nelken and Liang-Shun Lim of Acton. Shot in black and white with fantastic cinematography, “Rehearing the Future” showed Lim go back and forth between playing a grand piano and masterfully shuffling a deck of cards and performing slight of hand tricks.

Lim was not there to receive the award as the magician was in a competition in Las Vegas. His father attended the screening and said his son and Nelken, who grew up next door to one another, have made several films together over the years. This one was originally made for a Nikon contest to show your life in 140 seconds.
A driving classical score was composed by someone the boys knew in the area.

First prize went to Tianny Marmolejos and Clinton Williams of the Real to Reel Film School for “My story,” which was a philosophical look at Marmolejo’s search for her own story. The film follows her and her thoughts around downtown Lynn to Revere Beach and finally to a park bench in Boston Common where she has a conversation with a bronze sculpture. The candid story flowed out of her own writing in class, said Marmolejos, when her film teacher Chris Gaines encouraged her to expand the theme into a short film.

She said she was “in shock” that she and Williams made something with the appeal of this “video diary.”

“We’ve been shuffling it to festivals and it’s been winning,” said Williams, who had another picked finalist in the show.”I learned that if you want to make a film, you have to give your all to it.I’m really impatient sometimes and now I have patience.”

Marmolejos said “Words are words, but if you put them together and add pictures with them, it’s even better.”