Dublin High’s third annual Film Festival premiered on Thursday, May 18. Many students arrived  before the event to listen to live music, walk through the student art gallery, and eat food prepared by the catering department. Free Film Festival gear was also handed out to students who came early enough.

The Film Festival is a relatively new event at DHS. It began three years ago as a showcase for Video Production students to display their final projects. In the two years since then, the viewing has become a much anticipated annual event. After the long lines and limited seating of the 2016 Festival, the administration extended the festival to a second night in order to give more students and community members an  opportunity to see the films. Even with the extra night, however, tickets sold out almost two weeks before the opening night.

The event is even more impressive when one considers that all the films are created with only student actors, directors and producers. The inclusion of one’s film in the festival is highly competitive; this year Mr. D’Ambrosio, the Video Production teacher, received over fifty submissions from his students. Of these, around thirty were forwarded to a separate panel of judges and only eight were chosen for the festival.

The films in the festival have traditionally dealt with topics important to students, especially more mature topics, such as depression, suicide, and violence. Although the some students thought that focusing on such topics made last year’s films a little too depressing, most audience members appreciated the way students addressed these topics and opened a discussion on campus.

This year, the genres of the eight films in the festival ranged from romance to mystery to science fiction. The student response was overwhelmingly positive.

“Everyday I am astonished by the amazing talents of Dublin high,” said Freshman Kealy Morrissey.  “The film festival amazed me. I left feeling every emotion at once. I was transformed by every film and I look forward to next year’s festival.”

Some  favorites included “Timeless Love”, a love story about two soulmates who meet for the first time when the time on their watches counts down to zero, and a “Fistful of Genres”, a short of two producers deciding what to make a film about that starts out as humorous, but takes a darker turn.

Students thought that “Ode to Earth”, a National Geographic-esque nature film, and “The Conscious”, a complex science fiction short, were both films that were different from material previously included in the Film Festival.

Also featured in the festival were “Another Day in Paradise”, “Think”, “The Ancient Scroll of Tao”, and “Live”. If you weren’t able to go to the Film Festival, or simply would like to rewatch the films  again, go to http://www.gaelsvb.com/film-festival–2017.htm.