Maine West Film Students Earn Awards at Midwest Media Educators' Association Film Festival 2024! #207Now #mediaarts #excellence #awards #natas @wmth_west @mainewestfab @mmeatv

Students in Maine West's broadcasting program distinguished themselves as some of the best student broadcasters and filmmakers in the region by earning a number of awards at the Midwest Media Educators' Association (MMEA) Film Festival on Friday, April 26! The MMEA Film Festival has been around for 31 years, and it involves all of the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana media arts programs. Awards from this film festival distinguish students as some of the best regional student filmmakers. This year, there were over 400 student entries.

Congratulations to all of the students on your incredible achievements! We are so proud of you!

Congratulations to our media arts teacher, Mr. Rebecca Fisher, on her students' achievements!

More photos and video from the MMEA Film Festival can be found HERE.

Brooke Capper - 1st Place - Natural Audio News Package

Daniel Meckes - 2nd Place - News Package 

Aaron Rivera - 5th Place - Natural Audio News Package

Katie Huk - 5th Place - News Package 

Warrior Weekly - 5th Place - News Program - Written and Edited by Brooke Capper, Ash Carmichael and Damian Liakopolous and produced by the entire Warrior Weekly Staff - Avery Rizzi, Ben Pluta, Estelle Ghinea, Sami Alam, Katie Huk, and Daniel Meckes.

Avery Rizzi - 3rd Place - Demonstration 

Alesandro Fajardo and Damian Liakopolous - 5th Place- Commercial 

Students who received NATAS (student Emmy award) nominations were also honored at the MMEA Film Festival. Here are the student nominees from West this year:

Brooke Capper, Addie Webb, Marjorie Padar, Alesandro Fajardo, Jude Santos, Mickael Drimboi - NATAS Nomination - Fantastic Feasts and Where To Find Them

Bryan Leon, Alesandro Fajardo, Owen Wedge, Joe Chamlin - NATAS Nomination - Commercial for Mountain View Adventure Center

Daniel Meckes - NATAS Nomination - Bill Fireside's Honor Flight Documentary

Damian Liakopolous - NATAS Nomination - Say Something PSA

Maine West Media Arts Students Receive Prestigious Recognition #207Now #mediaarts #broadcasting #excellence @wmth_west @mainewestfab @mwactivities

We recently learned that several Maine West students are receiving recognition for their work in our Media Arts film and TV program! 

Several Maine West film students have received National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) award nominations. These are also considered "Student Emmy Awards," and distinguish these students as some of the best student filmmakers in the Midwest. In order to be nominated, these students' projects placed them in the top 2-5 projects in the submission category.

The students will learn whether or not their project win the category at the upcoming Midwest Media Education Association Film Festival on April 26th. Student Emmy winners receive a crystal pillar and will be invited to the NATAS Silver Circle Dinner on May 3rd to be presented the award. They will also be eligible to move on to compete nationally.

The following Maine West Students are nominated for a Student Emmy Award:

FANTASTIC FEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM: JIBARITO TIME

Jude Santos, Brooke Capper, Mickael Drimboi, Alesandro Fajardo, Addie Webb, Marjorie Padar 

Arts and Entertainment

SAY SOMETHING PSA

Damian Liakapolous 

PSA

MOUNTAIN VIEW ADVENTURE CENTER COMMERCIAL

Joe Chamlin, Owen Wedge, Bryan Leon, and Alesandro Fajardo

Commercial

BILL FIRESIDE'S HONOR FLIGHT DOCUMENTARY

Daniel Meckes 

Non Fiction

Additionally, several Maine West filmmakers have learned that their projects have been accepted in the Screen Test Student Fest Film Festival!

The following projects will be played at the festival:

Through Her Eyes - Brooke Capper and Marjorie Padar 

Fantastic Feasts: Jibarito Time - Mickael Drimboi, Brooke Capper, Addie Webb, Alesandro Fajardo, Jude Santos, Marjorie Padar 

Unrequited - Jude Santos and Alesandro Fajardo 

Bill Fireside’s Honor Flight - Daniel Meckes 

We are very proud of these student's achievements this year! Congratulations to all of the student filmmakers, as well as their incredible teacher, Ms. Rebecca Fisher!

Nikhil Nair Places 3rd in Screen Test Student Fest! #207Now #mediaarts #awards @wmth_west @mwactivities @mainewestfab

Nikhil Nair's film, "How to Make a 'Dum' Good Biriyani," placed 3rd in the festival!

On Saturday, April 15, Maine West film students, along with their teacher Ms. Rebecca Orr, attended the 16th Annual Screen Test Student Fest, an international screen test featuring the best short films created by high school filmmakers.

Two Maine West students, Ash Carmichael and Nikhil Nair, had films selected for the festival.

Nikhil ended up placing 3rd at the festival!

CONGRATULATIONS Ash and Nikhil! We are so very proud of you!

Brooke Capper filming a news package on the event. The photo is of her interviewing Rob Pileckis who runs the Screen Test Student Fest.

Nikhil Nair speaking about his film, "How to Make a 'Dum' Good Biriyani.

Ash Carmichael speaking about their film, "Expressing Identity Through Art."

Ash Carmichael and Nikhil Nair Selected as Finalists in Screen Test Student Fest 2023 #207Now #filmmakers @wmth_west @mainewestfab

We recently learned that two Maine West students have been selected as finalists in the Screen Test Student Fest film competition! Representing Maine West are the following students:

Ash Carmichael

Nikhil Nair

The Fine Arts Department and the entire Maine West community are so proud of these students for being accepted into this festival. We are honored to have them representing our school.

Screen Test Student Fest is on Friday, April 14th at 7:00 p.m. and will be held at Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts in Schaumburg (201 Schaumburg Court). Winners of this festival receive a cash prize and will compete the following day in the international round, which is held virtually. The 2nd and 3rd place and audience choice winners also receive a cash prize.

Check out the amazing films created by these students below:

Ash Carmichael's "Expressing Identity Through Art"

Nikhil Nair's "How to Make a 'Dum' Good Biriyani"

Three Maine West Filmmakers' Films Selected for SCREEN TEST STUDENT FEST & Brooke Capper's Film Places Third! #207Now #studentfilmmakers #mediaarts #mediaartsed @wmth_mainewest

This past Friday, April 8th at 7:00 p.m. the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Center hosted Screen Test Student Fest, a film festival featuring work by student filmmakers from around Chicagoland. Over 50 films were submitted to this festival and only ten were selected to be part of the festival. Among those ten are THREE films by Maine West film students!

Aydin Khan (junior) presented his short film, Garage Door. 

Brooke Capper (sophomore) presented her documentary, From Pain to Hope. 

Avery Rizzi (sophomore) presented her documentary, Diane Erwin's Ghost Story. 

Films were played on the big screen and then students participated in a Q&A about their films. After presenting, students received a gift basket with t-shirts, popcorn, candy, and a slate filled out with the name of their film. 

Awards were given to the top 3 films as well as an audience choice award. Sophomore, Brooke Capper, won $100 and took 3rd place for her film, From Pain to Hope. She gave an acceptance speech following her win!  

Congratulations to Avery, Brooke and Aydin on this tremendous achievement! A huge thank you to Ms. Rebecca Orr for making this opportunity happen for these students, and for her tremendous mentorship and teaching of these young filmmakers!

More pictures from Screen Test Student Fest can be found HERE.