JUSTIN R.
BROWN On behalf of the Board of Directors, Host Committee and the Executive Planning Committee, it is with extreme pride and pleasure that we welcome you to the 7th Annual Flint Film Festival Awards which serves as the organization’s signature fundraiser for the year! Thank you for joining us this evening as we celebrate exceptional young filmmakers and pay tribute to their extraordinary achievements. The 7th Annual Flint Youth Film Festival shines a spotlight on filmmakers ages 25 and younger. The festival is designed to educate, celebrate and encourage youth filmmakers by screening officially selected work, encouraging their creative activities, providing informative workshops, and culminating with the Awards Ceremony. The Flint Youth Film Festival is sponsored by iMichigan Productions, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Michigan Humanities Council, Share Art Genesee, Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs, James A. Welch Foundation, A.G. Bishop Charitable Trust, Flint Institute of Arts, and Mott Community College. There is no way to measure the gratitude we have for all our distinguished corporate sponsors. Thank you and enjoy!
Justin R. Brown
Justin R. Brown Award Winning Writer, Director,
Director, FYFF
FYFF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
ALEXANDRIA
DOUGLAS Good Evening, We’re so grateful for everyone who helped make this evening a success. We are thrilled to be here celebrating phenomenal filmmakers. None of this would have been possible without the help of our sponsors whose generous support allows us to continue our impactful work with aspiring youth in the year ahead. The heart of what we do is our filmmakers. These young people embrace challenges, see mistakes as opportunities to learn, and persist in the face of setbacks. We must express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone for joining us virtually tonight and consistently supporting the mission. Your help contributes to the continuation of this important work. Regards
Alexandria Douglas Alexandria Douglas Assistant Director
PROGRAM Opening Remarks Mayor Sheldon Neeley Welcome Remarks Justin R. Brown, Festival Director Evening Hosts William Redwine Madison Labonte Craft Writing Awards Craft Cinematography Awards Craft Directing Award 13-15 Achievement Award 16-18 Fiction 16-18 Non-Fiction 19-21 Fiction 19-21 Non-Fiction 19-21 Experimental 22-25 Fiction 22-25 Non-Fiction 22-25 Experimental Animation Screenplays Film Appreciation The Heart Award presented by Justin R. Brown Audience Choice Award Closing Remarks William Redwine & Madison Labonte
GALA HOSTS WILLIAM REDWINE Award Winning Filmmaker William Redwine is a multi-award-winning producer, a graduate of the Mott Community College Media Arts and Entertainment Technology Program and owner of Redwine 36 Productions. He is a writer, producer and actor. His goal is to write and produce quality films that helps bring the community together one film project at a time.
MADISON LABONTE Filmmaker and Actress Madison LaBonte is an aspiring film director, writer, and producer. She has worked on many small projects and personal productions, inspiring her to make this her career. Madison’s passion comes from a long line of theater fanatics, and she has been involved with theater for as long as she can remember. She is studying media arts and entertainment at Mott Community College and will be graduating with her associate’s degree within the next year. She plans on going further with her education and is excited to make her mark in the industry.
OFFICIAL SELECTION 13-15 All A Stellar Vacation! Noah Shin
16-18 Fiction
16-18 Non-Fiction
ATTACHMENT John Brown Birding Scott Faulk Bugbear John-Paul Casella Dear Reader Lily Barfield New Age Natural Selection Austin Snetsky Sadie Lydia Broward Showtime Kaia Chambers The Black Forest Kim Leonhardt Unzipped Jenna Miller Visions Rylee Freitag
Climate Change Crisis Ashley Lopez Golden Vision Sasha Lahtinen It’s Getting Bad Again Sara Reyes Schuyler Carsyn Shark Talking Murals Joshua Alatriste Tara Ella Kathryn Lukowiak The Beauty Conversation Karis Lai The Caffeinated Cat Lydia Broward Why We Are Karston Singleton
OFFICIAL SELECTION 19-21 Non-Fiction 19-21 Fiction Any Way You Slice It Suraj Gubbala Between the Lines Nadia Isabelle Dizard, Brynja Karoline Kirby For Quentin Mo Alagi Goodybe Bilo Nicole Yanakiev Postmortem Josh Bradshaw Polyglottos Ben Krueger Silence Leah Purkiss Slumber Party Christophorus Cedric To Him Christophorus Cedric What I Did Not Take To College Gabriella Hsu
Arcadia Jorge Daphne Castro Gemütlichkeit Michael DeFranco Goodbye Tyler Tyler Finney House In The Sky Sarah White The Hauntings of Saint Augustine James Diaz The In Between Chloe de Montgolfier
19-21 Experimental A sentence that ends in a word that starts a new one Letao Chen Chromasia Maggie Branch Life William Baker Rylee McCoy Nature vs Nurture Andrew James Leonard
OFFICIAL SELECTION 22-25 Non-Fiction 22-25 Fiction Conservative Horses David Manitsky enTWINed Logan Arnold FRAME FUMBLE Alexander Griffin If These Walls Could Walk Shane R. Hillier In The Tall Grass Lora Castleman MAKING A HOME Remy Styrk RECURSE The Zavitsanos Brothers The Mountain Augusto Miro Quesada Trattoria Nicholas V. Andros
Gender and Machismo Allison Chaves Outbreak Goldfish Zhihui Zhang RISE Alexander Griffin The Stories Waves Could Tell Chris Moncrief
22-25 Experimental Abandoned Jonathan Vliet Capsaicin Pauline Angelina guāng Alice Hu Miracle Whip Jerod Willis The Body of a Rational Creature Jordan Skutar
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Animation
Screenplays
A Fleeting Moment Allyanna Demafeliz Amilin and Berdam Lana Lim Little Clown Zoe P. Eberhard mr. sun Christina Wu Nobody Mia Incantalupo Other Plans Aspen Leavitt SKY VANDAL Milo Ferguson The Curse Jae Yoo The Twins Michelle Tang Xeno Conspiracy Britney Grabarski
Bothersome Ian McKay Chasing Frogs Marcus Jeffrey Hamel Cycles Ezra Farner Free Space! Daniel Lee Road Trip Lydia Broward The Snailing Jamison Paul Geyer Violent Silence Jacquie DiTroia 6:54 PM Kaleb Cruzado 12:34 Drew Mette
ABOUT The Flint Youth Film Festival introduces the art of filmmaking to young filmmakers between the ages of 13 and 25. It provides these young filmmakers with venues for developing their storytelling talents. The program provides opportunities to share creative work with peers, the public, and professional filmmakers. By introducing our youth to the film industry, the program provides them with new media to express their creativity, improve their communication skills, and benefit their community. The festival received a record number of entries this year. Festival officials have notified these filmmakers of the official selections that will be part of the festival and the films are now out being judged by professionals from around the country. The festival entrants are divided into three age groups, (13-15, 16-18, 19-21, 2225) split into fiction, non-fiction, and experimental as well as one for animation and one for screenplays. The younger group is strictly judged by achievement to acknowledge the hard work it takes to make a film and to put no pressure of competition on kids that young that are just getting started in this creative pursuit.
Craft awards also are presented for writing, directing, and cinematography for the three older groups. And there are other awards given which are determined by judges, for example The Heart Award, which is for a film that shows passion from the entrant(s) which outshine all others. And, of course, there is the Audience Choice Award. The 13-15 group’s films were limited to five minutes. The 16-18 age group limit was ten minutes, the 19-21 group was limited to 15 minutes, and the 22-25 group’s limit was twenty minutes. For the audience, one good thing about watching the films on YouTube, Brown noted, is that the films can be watched more than once.
ABOUT US Founded by Award-winning television producer, Rodney W. Brown, iMP is a non-profit corporation that combines media production with education. iMP’s Flagship program, the Flint Youth Film Festival introduces the art of filmmaking to young filmmakers between the ages of 13 and 25 and provides these young filmmakers with venues for developing their storytelling talent. Additional signature programs include the Peaceful Warriors Project that recognizes the contributions of United States Veterans in arts, culture and community and the Film Appreciation Academy, a program to examine the styles of film the techniques used in making a film and the potential array of jobs that are available in the film industry.
MISSION The mission is to inspire emerging filmmakers ages 25 and under to harness the power of storytelling to inspire and encourage positive change in the world. VISION Our vision is to provide emerging filmmakers a platform to showcase their perspectives through film.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank all of our Generous Sponsors, Donors and Contributors, Honorary Host Committee Members, Board of Directors of iMichigan Productions, Staff and Volunteers of iMichigan Productions
Marketing & Communications Sheila Gilmore
Graphic Design Gilmore Marketing Group Digital Program Journal Power Is Now Media
Audiovisual Compumind Marketing Inc.
The Film Appreciation Academy is a gateway to those young people who are interested in making films and who may want to participate in the Flint Youth Film Festival.
When you invest in our young filmmakers, you invest in our future. Thank You.
iMichigan Productions 615 S. Saginaw Street Flint Michigan 48502 PH: 810- 214-4411 www.imichiganproductions.com imichiganproductions