Guerilla Film Project: A Statewide High School Filmmaking Competition

*Guerilla Film Project 2010 Winners Announced*

Four short films by area high school students won awards at the sixth annual Guerilla Film Project competition held at Bellingham's Pickford Cinema on February 14th. Teams from three high schools created winning entries:

*Sedro Woolley High School:* *Heart Beaker *(sic)* * 1st Place Judges' and Audience Choice Awards, and *The New Guy* 2nd Place Judges' Award

*Anacortes High School:* *To Die Alone* *3rd Place Judges' and 2nd Place Audience Choice Awards

*Oak Harbor High School:* *Ninja Police* 3rd Place Audience Choice Award

This Valentine's Day weekend, 24 student teams from high schools in Whatcom, Skagit, Island and Fidalgo counties raced the clock to write, shoot and edit three-minute narrative films in only 65 hours. All films included the following objects and line of dialogue to show that they were shot during the contest window: a roll of toilet paper, a board game, and the line "Is that a herring?"

Teams gathered at the Idiom Theater in downtown Bellingham on Thursday, February 11, for a workshop on story development led by Northwest Film School owner Glen Berry and filmmaker Julie Trimingham. After the workshop, the young filmmakers were given their prompts and had until 11 a.m. Sunday to complete their entries. The films were judged on the spot, with first, second and third place winners selected by a panel of local filmmakers and "Audience Choice Awards" chosen by participant vote. All of the films were shown to a full house Sunday afternoon after the awards ceremony.

Guerilla Film Project is produced by Pickford Film Center. PFC operates the Pickford Cinema, Bellingham’s only independent movie house, and produces other programs including the Doctober documentary series and the Bellingham Children’s Film Festival. See www.pickfordfilmcenter.org for more information on PFC.

For more information contact:

Guerilla Film Project Director

Terri Krantz

guerilla@pickfordfilmcenter.org