Edison students win top prize at Rochester Teen Film Festival
The Little Theatre hosted the 18th Rochester Teen Film Festival on Thursday night. Ten short films were highlighted as finalists from various genres, including narratives, animation, experimental and documentary.
The festival's top prize, chosen by judges as "Best of Fest," was awarded to "The Unattainable Dream: Redlining in Rochester," a documentary film produced by students from Edison Career and Technology High School.
The movie focuses on local governmental and societal oppression elements such as redlining, mortgage loans, and the federal housing authority.
Twenty-nine filmmakers are credited with making the film. Students in Government and Economics, English Language Arts (ELA), and Digital Media Arts and Communications (DMAC) classes worked together to craft the project.
Each class tackled a different aspect of production. ELA students generated questions for interviews with local voices while students in DMAC produced the interviews and created the documentary in Video and Television Production class. Students in English Language Arts and Participation in Government and Economics classes constructed the script.
The "Best of Fest" prize, the Philip Seymour Hoffman Award, honors the life and legacy of the late Oscar-winning actor and Fairport native.
Hoffman's mother, Marilyn O'Connor, presented the top prize to three Edison students in attendance Thursday night, representing their classmate's work.
"He would have loved this," O'Connor said. "He loved young people working to say something. The most important films are those that educate us and have us suddenly understand something that was sitting right in front of us and we didn't know about it. The next step after seeing this is action."
The three students who spoke at the Little Theatre were Tyler Gibson, Genesis Gonzalez, and Joshuan Perez Pacheco.
"It took a village, and our Edison village got it done," Tyler Gibson told the packed theatre.
"It was an amazing experience to be a part of," Genesis Gonzalez said.
The winning film includes interviews with Rochester School Board Commissioner Camille Simmons, Assembly Member Demond Meeks, Mayor Malik Evans, former Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, PathStone Foundation founder Shane Wiegand, and Democrat and Chronicle journalist Justin Murphy.
Joshua Perez Pacheco hopes local leaders will formulate plans to right the wrongs caused by redlining and segregation explored in their film.
"Actions speak louder than words," Pacheco said. "We spoke about it, but it's a much bigger step to make moves and actually fix this together."
The other students credited with making the film are De'Asia Anderson, Jesiah Benitez, Lavone Coleman, Ginalys Cotto, Edgar DeJesus, Alanis Gaetan, Lastephanie Gause, Shinya Hill, Daniel Huertas, Samara Martin, Jomaris Martinez, Ashley Offen, Daymaris Ponce Pagan, Amir Reeves, Yariana Rivera, Journey Rose, Je'Von Singletary-Alston, Jakiya Strong, Samuel Swift, Nasjier Thomas, Barinua Tor, La'Jai White, Noah White, G'Ana Williams, Shawn Wilson, and Jannice Wynn.
Contact Robert Bell at: rlbell@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @byrobbell & Instagram: @byrobbell. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Edison students win top prize at Rochester Teen Film Festival
