Film Prize Junior New Mexico offers accolades to local students as contest grows
Apr. 26—Zaiden Lopez is a sixth grader at McCurdy Charter School, a student at Moving Arts Española and an award-winning filmmaker.
Lopez's short film, Blue Heron, follows the story of two boys as they endeavor to hunt the titular bird in the bosque — only to learn a lesson about family ties from the experience.
The piece was one of a record-breaking 167 films — created by middle and high schoolers from across 84 schools and 21 counties — entered into this year's Film Prize Junior New Mexico festival, held earlier this month at the National Hispanic Cultural Center Journal Theater in Albuquerque.
The festival also included a new virtual component, with viewers' choice awards announced Tuesday, to celebrate student performances and audience picks.
All told, festival organizers handed out more than $12,000 in scholarships and crowned nearly 40 award-winning filmmakers — including some, like Lopez, from Northern New Mexico. Fifty-five of the contest's films were created by or featured Native American youth.
"We were blown away by the crowds and the excitement at the Film Prize Junior Festival," Gregory Kallenberg, co-founder of Film Prize Junior and executive director of the Prize Foundation, said in a news release.
"Watching these young filmmakers fill the National Hispanic Cultural Center and cheer for each other's work is what Film Prize Junior is all about," he said.
New Mexico's version of Film Prize Junior is modeled on the Louisiana Film Prize, a short film competition offering the winner a $50,000 cash prize.
The Film Prize Junior program tasks middle and high school classrooms, as well as after-school and summer enrichment programs, to write, film and edit their own short films.
The program's third year brought the largest-ever crowd of viewers, in addition to a grant from the state Public Education Department to match students across New Mexico with filmmaking mentors.
Blue Heron, winner of the Middle School Drama award, was a collaborative project, Lopez said. In addition to inviting classmates to portray roles in the film, Lopez received assistance from McCurdy Charter School art teacher Ana Neighbor, his father, artist Cruz Lopez, filmmaker Erikah Guyen and Stephanie Martinez, an instructor at Moving Arts Española.
As he put together Blue Heron, he gained firsthand experience in storyboarding, screenwriting, operating a camera and film editing.
"I learned that filmmaking is hard, but if you persevere and do as much as possible, you can make something beautiful," Lopez said in a news release. "I now have a deeper appreciation for film and stay to watch the credits roll."
