Locust Valley High School welcomed in nine schools from across Long Island at its 20th annual film festival on March 26. Locust Valley students continued to shine, winning 15 of the 41 awards given out by independent filmmaking professionals.
The big winner of the festival was the music video, “Money Game,” by Raffaele Gianattasio, Justin Kwok and Dean Wolfe, which took home the best overall award, first place in the music video, directing and editing categories and entry into the Long Island International Film Expo and the High School All-American Film Festival. Locust Valley students showed their range of talents, earning first place in the horror, commercial and documentary categories for the projects “Carne,” “Wall Street Barber” and “UNCONVENTIONAL,” respectively. The horror entry “Carne” came from filmmakers Justin Kwok and John Zatwarnicki. “Wall Street Barber” was created by Joseph Esposito, who also took second place in the commercial category for “BMW.” “UNCONVENTIONAL” was produced by Justin Kwok.
The students also showcased their technical craftwork with six awards in the cinematography, directing, editing and sound design categories. Esposito’s “Wall Street Barber” and “BMW” won first and third place for cinematography, respectively, with the latter also winning third place for editing. The horror film “Carne,” won second place in the directing category and third place in sound design category. And drama film “Your Love,” from students Justin Kwok, Grace Araoz and Skylar Seele earned second place in the sound design category. Long Beach High School students Jake Haft, Noam Borenstein, Summer Millares, Maurice Dupree, Cole Linares and Sage Muckle won the audience choice award for the comedy “THE R6SOLUT7ON.”