An initiative launched in 2020 within the Los Alamitos Unified School District to teach filmmaking to high school students has grown into a district-wide effort that has inspired students throughout the system to express their own vision through film.
So much so that many parents, students, teachers, administrators, and board members from Los Al Unified filled the Bay Theatre in Seal Beach twice on May 30 to enjoy the 2nd annual Los Al High School Film Festival.
The demand for tickets was so great that organizers said they scheduled showings at 4:00 p.m. and another at 7:30 p.m.
“We sold out the 4 p.m. show,” said an excited Conner Brown, Los Al Unified School District’s Film and TV instructor, and by the time the 7:30 p.m. showing came around, the Bay Theatre was filled again.
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“This community is so unlike any other community,” said Brown before the second show.
“It is so different because it so enthusiastically supports the school system and the school district,” he said.
“Los Al and Seal Beach are such school-first communities,” said Brown.
Brown moderated the show, introducing the videos with the enthusiasm of a parent or teacher who had grown anything from a tiny idea into what this film festival now represents.
“If you’re in the audience right now and you’re in elementary school, or if you’re in middle school,” the instructor said, “look at what you have to look forward to,” Brown said to the attending students.
Only in its second year, the Los Al Student Film Festival seems to be a smashing hit. The students and parents were laughing, clapping, and cheering each other on as Brown went through the films and students began to recognize their fellow students on screen.
Brown thanked all of the students for making films, apparently in such supply that only the top three from each category could be shown. Following the showing in each category during the 4 p.m. event, Brown announced the filmmakers and presented them with a trophy.
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The golden trophies, resembling a miniature Oscar Award, were presented to the winning filmmakers at the 4 p.m. show.
This is the 2nd such film festival since students decided to utilize the recently renovated Bay Theatre on Main Street in Seal Beach. With the smell of fresh popcorn wafting throughout the 300-seat venue, student filmmakers within the Los Alamitos Unified School District crowded into the 21st-century iteration of the 1940s-era facility.
During the event, Brown ran through an impressive list of “wins” for the filmmaking program this school year. “It has been an amazing year for us,” said Brown, noting the various Los Al Film students winning county, state, and national competitions.
In addition, said Brown, “the county’s top film schools like NYU and USC are taking notice of the Los Al Unified filmmaking program.” Several of this year’s graduating seniors have been accepted at top film-related programs around the nation, he said.
Interest is also growing within the system.
Brown said 80 films made by students throughout the Los Al system were submitted for consideration for this year’s festival. Only thirty made the final cut.
Film festival attendees had the chance to see all 30 of them. Some, such as those from elementary school, were short but funny. Brown described them, with obvious affection, as “adorable” and “really, really funny and cute.”
The kindergartners through fifth-graders had been handed a challenge with literally zero formal film training and produced miniature narratives full of earnest drama and accidental comedy.
The winner, a short called “No Bread,” played to delighted laughter from every corner of the theater.
Then came the middle schoolers and their view of the world through film.
Brown said viewers could almost see the difference, “a shift in the way they work” as middle schoolers, imperfect still, but intentional.
“Camera angles were considered. Film cuts had a logic to them. One group made a commercial that made you want to buy the thing,” exclaimed Brown.Another made a music video that, despite the technical wobbles, had a genuine emotional pulse, he said.
And then came the high school films.
Brown had spent most of the evening warming up the room, but he got noticeably quieter when the high school reels began.
The freshman and sophomore submissions, strong for intro-level coursework, gave way to the advanced students’ pieces. By the time the category reached the senior students, the audience had grown almost silent in its respect.
The statistics Brown dropped into his remarks told a more ambitious story still.
His students had entered a contest called Directing Change, a 60-second commercial promoting mental health awareness, and out of more than 1,300 submissions from across California, Los Al took second place.
In a safe driving PSA competition with 500 entries, they won first. That video, made by high schoolers in a classroom in Seal Beach, now plays in every DMV in California and on gas station screens across the country.
Two of his students’ commercials are currently running on television during Los Angeles Angels games.And then there was Chris Blocher, a Los Al student who entered OC Artist of the Year, a county-wide competition “typically dominated by private schools and arts academies,” but not this year.
“We won,” he said. It was the first time in the school’s history.
“This is your guys’ night,” Brown said to every student in the theatre. “You should be so proud of yourselves for all the hard work you put in to get here. Even just being here tonight is a special thing,” said Brown.
Three years ago, Brown started allowing his students to make a short film.
Students made the film entirely, from ideation to casting to directing, etc. The first one was all students and just one 15-20-minute film, a modest celebration of his students’ work at the end of the year.
It was good. His students loved it. The families who showed up were proud. But Brown kept thinking bigger. The first few were shown at the Los Al High Performing Arts Theatre.
“Then we decided, let’s take it up a notch. Let’s invite the middle schools to participate. Let’s invite the elementary schools to participate,” Brown recounted the decision.
Brown said he made some calls, talked to teachers across grade levels, brought in judges, organized nominees, and found the perfect venue, the recently renovated Bay Theatre in Seal Beach, which was willing to partner with a public school on a two-show event.
This year, for the first time, the Seal Beach Student Film Festival opened its doors, and its trophy cases, to filmmakers from kindergarten through senior year.
Filmmakers deserve a showcase just like football, basketball, orchestra, etc. said Brown, and the LAHS Film Festival seems like a smashing hit.
“We want this event to become a fixture of this community,” Brown said, “something people circle on their calendar the way they do the Car Show or the Christmas Parade,” he said.
“We want it to become a local institution,” said Brown.Based on the last two shows, he may already be closer to it than he thinks.
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LAHS Film Festival Winners:
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Elementary Short film Winner:
No Bread by Sabrina Nunez and Miley Antunez
Middle School Commercial Winner:
Uber Eats by Noah Yoon and Owen Chua
Middle School Music Video Winner:
The Man by Brea Berani, Solyana Girum, Jaxon Price, Isaac Davalos, Camila Real, Cerys Burns, Ryan Vu, Eric Ang-y, and Aila Nickloff
Middle School Short Film Winner:
When Nobody is Watching by Jack Standlea, Presley Markle, Levi Shockley, Silas Wille, and Charlie Dodson
Beginning High School Commercial Winner:
Sprite by Whitney Rupp
Beginning High School Music Video Winner:
Punk Rocky by Andrew Tellez, Ian Huh, Connor Kubit, and Colt Carroll
Advanced High School PSA Winner:
Superhero by Joseph Ito, Davis Taylor, Chris Blocher, Audrey Romo, Mason Potter, and Ash Fragoso
Advanced High School Music Video Winner:
Satellite by Chris Blocher, Zach Blocher, & Jayden Villa
Advanced High School Short Film Winner:
Updawg by Joey Ito, Davis Taylor, Leonard Rosa, Audrey Romo, Milo Gih, Ryan Quinn, Jayden Villa, and Fiona Cole.