Student Filmmakers Shine at Kent Place’s Annual Film Festival

Kent Place’s annual Film Festival once again proved to be a success. Now in its 18th year, the festival fosters young talent and strengthens connections among high school film programs across the state.

This year’s festival marked a record level of participation, with 11 schools represented — including by Kent Place’s own Allie Weil ’27. The event, held in the Commons Room on campus, drew some 40 attendees, and in the audience were six teachers from participating schools, some traveling from as far as Middletown High School South and Warren Hills Regional High School.

On the Film Club board are Supriya Kamilla ’26, Avery Sinclair ’26, Allie Weil ’27, and Aidan Dangler ’28, along with faculty advisors John Walz and Peter Wertz. This group reviewed 56 submissions (totaling more than five hours of footage!) and selected 15 standout pieces to present at the festival.

Says Allie, “The categories were creativity, originality, cinematography, sound and music, performances, impact, and representation of theme. When narrowing down the pool of 56 submissions, we focused primarily on originality, creativity, and impact, looking for films that scored highly across all three. This enabled us to curate a lineup that expressed a distinct filmmaker’s ‘voice.’”

The festival concluded with a panel led by Ken Weathersby, Kent Place Gallery Director and Upper School Visual Arts teacher, featuring eight of the student filmmakers, whose insights provided a glimpse into the creative process.

The Grass Is Always Meaner, by Ethan Castro and Michael Puma (Middletown High School South), earned the Audience Choice Award; The Butterfly, by Emily Reese Ommerborn (Middletown High School South), was recognized for Best Cinematography. Tyler Washington, of Hillside High School, won for Best Representation of Theme for Going Going Gone; Josias Ortiz, of East Brunswick School of the Arts, took home the Jury Award for Our DieNasty, his second consecutive win in this category.

Congratulations to all on an incredible evening!