SEQUIM — The 13th annual Sequim Education Foundation’s Student Film Festival and Art Show are tonight.
The festival will begin at 7 p.m. at the Sequim High School auditorium at 601 N. Sequim Ave., following the art show at 6 p.m. at the Sequim School District Board Room at 503 N. Sequim Ave.
A donation of $3 is suggested.
For many in grades six through 12, this film festival and art show is the only event where students can get exposure of their work.
Students can earn up to $500 in cash prizes for first place at the film festival. Fifty dollars will be given to the first-place winning film in special categories.
Artists will be awarded cash prizes for a variety of different categories, including “Best in Show” and “People’s Choice Award” voted on by the public the night of the show.
The special award categories in film are school spirit, commercial, animation, comedy, drama, sci-fi, documentary, music video, GoAnime (middle school only) and other.
Student films cannot exceed five minutes and are judged by an independent panel of judges appointed by the Sequim Education Foundation (SEF).
Christy Ditlefsen, Sequim High School video production teacher and film festival coordinator, said five student films were submitted this year and that the money awarded to students is in the form of cash prizes instead of scholarships.
Some students submitting films this year are returning filmmakers, such as Abygail Mundy, a Sequim High School senior.
Her film this year is called “All for Love,” a spin-off film of the “Harry Potter” series.
She said this year she is hoping to take first place.
“I think people will like the special effects,” she said.
A “Harry Potter” fan, Mundy said creating the special effects for her film was a challenge but she believes it will make her film stand out. She said if she wins she will use the money to bring her friend and previous exchange student from Brazil back to the United States.
Mundy and freshman Jackson Lindorfer will serve as this year’s festival emcees.
On the art side, Jaye Hall — Sequim High School drawing, painting, glass fusing and psychology teacher — said she is encouraging her art students to submit two pieces to the art show.
“It’s so neat for the public to see what the kids are working on,” Hall said.
“Art doesn’t get much fanfare for the high school so this is a wonderful opportunity to have their work seen by their parents and the public.”
She said a variety of student artwork will be on display, including photography, floral design, glass fusing, drawings and paintings.
Last year, about 300 people attended the art show, Hall said, adding that some 150-200 pieces of artwork will be on display this year.
For some students, such as Sequim High School junior Arianna Gerrior and senior Haelee Andres, their artwork holds special meaning.
Gerrior is in Hall’s painting class and AP art studio, where her focus is women empowerment.
She planned to submit two to three pieces of her artwork using acrylic paint.
“I do a lot of body figures and faces,” Gerrior said. “I have had a lot of problems with self image so it’s a subject that means a lot to me.”
She comes from a family of tattoo artists, she said, and is interested in pursing art after high school at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Andres also is an AP art student, as well as a student liaison with Sequim City Council and the City Arts Advisory Commission.
Her AP art concentration is on designs and nature and she planned to submit one watercolor piece or possibly a chalk pastel or India ink piece.
“I’m consistently surrounded by nature and exploring it,” Andres said.
“I wanted to capture the design and beauty of my surroundings.”
After high school, Andres will attend Central Washington University and plans to major in art and art history with a teaching credential so she can teach high school art. For more information about the film festival or art show, visit https://www.facebook.com/seffilmfest/ and contact Ditlefsen at cditlefsen@sequim.k12.wa.us or Hall at jhall@sequim.k12.wa.us.
Sequim High School senior Haelee Andres touches up an abstract watercolor painting she planned to submit to the Sequim Education Foundation Art Show. (Erin Hawkins/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
