School’s island-wide film festival attracts record crowd
Saltus Grammar School held its third annual Bermuda Youth Festival last week in front of a record crowd.
The event at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute last Thursday was founded in 2022 by Therese Bean, the school’s head of creative arts.
Ms Bean launched the festival to encourage youngsters aged between 11 and 18 across the island to share their stories through film.
She said: “A highlight of this year’s festival was seeing students collaborating across schools on film projects.
“The dream when the Bermuda Youth Film Festival was launched was to inspire students from across the island to work together to share stories and entertain audiences.
“Attendees were certainly entertained last week with a broad range of films from animation to documentary, horror to comedy, and everything in between.”
Digicel donated the first place prize of an iPhone 15, which was presented to Stephanie Hardy, of Somersfield Academy, for her documentary, Bear with Me: A Virtual Tour.
Ms Bean thanked Digicel as well as industry judges Brooke Williams, Rashun Robinson and Andrew Kirkpatrick for their time and expertise.
The judges said that year after year, they were impressed with the participants’ creativity and talent, and thanked the young people for the hard work they put into creating entries.
• Best Film and Best Director:Bear With Me: A Virtual Tour. Stephanie Hardy, Somersfield Academy
• Best Edit: Froggy Frenzy: The Pool Table Duel. Brandon Sangster, Eddy Burchall and Kyle Mello, Saltus Grammar School
• Best Genre Film (Comedy): No Comment. Annabelle Davidson, Bermuda High School
• Best New Talent and Best Use of the Signature Item: A Parisian Banquet and Match Made. Seri Fisher, Warwick Academy
• Best Documentary: Why Exercise is Important for Teens. Kira Dunley-Owen, Madison Fletcher, Isla Fletcher, Zooey de los Santos and Isabella Neururer, Bermuda High School
• Best Actor (Male):Horrors Within. Ben Copeland, Saltus Grammar School
• Best Actor (Female): Bear With Me. Laura Frith, Somersfield Academy
• Best Production Values and Best Sound Edit:A Quiet Evening. Florence Russell, Warwick Academy
• Encouragement Award, Best use of Art:Tree Frog Inspiration. Ashling DeSilva, Bermuda High School
• Encouragement Award, Best use of Horror:Dream a Little Dream. Aiden Swiss, Saltus Grammar School
• Encouragement Award: Thinking outside the box, Mr Hopper’s Game Show. Milly Thompson and Rikki Lee Pitcher, Warwick Academy
• Encouragement Award, Best ‘Hidden’ Signature item:Friends and Football. Anari Stovell, Dellwood Middle School
• Up and Coming: The Whistlers & the Artist. Diana Bishop, Warwick Academy
The due date for next year’s festival submissions is May 24 and the signature item to be included in each film will be the Bermuda Gombey.
Ms Bean added: “We look forward to welcoming more schools and students from across the island for the 2024-2025 school year.”
• The films can be viewed at www.saltus.bm/film-festival
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