Longview High School film students have made it to the finals in the All American High School Film Festival in New York. Now, the LoboView Film Club is asking the community for support to raise money to be able to travel to the event in October.
Ben Hatfield, president of LoboView Film Club, said the two films that branched out to the finals were ‘You’re So Annoying’ directed by himself and co-written with the help of Karsyn Doxey and ‘Forget Me Not’ directed by April Butler and Kaia Saiz.
Among their successes, earlier this year the team placed in the top six out of 700 campuses in the UIL Young Filmmakers Festival for ‘You’re So Annoying.’ Hatfield said the team made it to finals in other festivals as well. They received third place in the state of Texas for UIL film narrative category.
“We just started entering it into a bunch of film festivals and somehow made it with a lot of luck, a lot of skill, hopes and dreams, bubble gum and tears,” he said.
Now with the success of the films, the students hope to attend the film festival on Oct. 20-23 in New York City, where 12 eligible students plan to attend. They need to raise $18,000 to afford the trip.
Josh Graves, film and theater arts/tech teacher, said the opportunity is very meaningful for the students and helps them with inspiration by seeing the creations by peers across the world.
“Last year, the students who went … it really was an eye-opening experience, not just the culture of New York City, but also seeing all the work that goes into it,” Graves said.
Many of those students were inspired to work harder and pay attention to details more in their projects, he said. Even though they’ve already seen success, this type of experience can show them what it takes to rise beyond that and see even more success.
To donate to the LoboView club’s trip, email Graves at jgraves@lisd.org.