Franklin HS production wins student award at Garden State Film Festival

Central Jersey has become no stranger to earthquakes, but the noise that shook Franklin Township earlier this spring was no force of nature, but a force of motion … pictures. It was the screaming excitement experienced by a group of high school students and their teachers when they were announced as winners of a statewide film contest.

The student filmmakers went down to the Garden State Film Festival in Asbury Park to watch a workshop. For several years, the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) sponsored a student film category in the annual festival called the "NJSBA’s New Jersey Hometown Documentary Short." The Franklin group had entered their effort, "The Challenge."

None of the students or teachers expected the winners of their category were going to be announced that day. When the group heard their name called, they went "crazy," said Aryan Patel, 17, a senior at Franklin High School and director and a writer of the short.

"We jumped up. We were screaming," said Patel, who is headed to Boston University to study acting in the fall. "It really was one of those core memories that you're going to have for a really long time. We made quite an eruption. They felt it all the way up here in Franklin!"

The group was honored at a ceremony at Asbury Lanes Stages with about 450 Garden State student filmmakers and their TV/film teachers in attendance. The student documentary event kicked off the start of the 2024 film festival.

"Every frame is a canvas … every scene a story," said Timothy Purnell, NJSBA's executive director and CEO. "At NJSBA, this is one of my favorite stories − about our students. Students, continue to go forward fearlessly and make your mark on this world."

Robin Kampf, digital media producer at NJSBA, noted that filmmaking began in New Jersey.

"Recognizing these future filmmakers is a great way to honor our state’s history," Kampf said. "Filmmaking is an artform that captures the 'A' in the STEAM curriculum, and NJSBA proudly supports these talented future filmmakers."

The Garden State Film Festival is the largest international festival in the state. This particular event stimulates economic growth through the arts, invests in the creativity of students, makes the arts accessible to underserved populations and preserves heritage arts.

Franklin's group also included producer/director/editor Kaycee Kotun, 17, a senior headed to Hofstra University to study psychology, and Kennedi Smith, 17, a senior headed to Raritan Valley Community College to study Automotive Technology. Their teachers are Michael Pinnix and PJ Bracco, both of whom teach the district's "Aspects of Video" course, and Chris Paskewich, who teaches a similar course at Linden High School.

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The documentary − "a homegrown, hometown student documentary short" − had to fulfill certain criteria. The student documentary entries must be written, produced and edited by a student and be under five minutes. The mini documentary must tell a story that has something to do with the hometown of the students and focus on some aspect of the arts, music, history, culture, a person, place, etc.

Their film fit perfectly.

"It just all kind of came into place and just seemed to be the right thing to do," Bracco said. "And it fell into the right time period. It was no more than five minutes. It was perfect timing. So, the fact that we got into the festival is just a great, amazing accomplishment. They are now in an international festival among their peers and professionals from all over the world. It's an amazing forum and opportunity for people to share their work and their craft. And for me, I'm very proud of my kids as well that something like this is able to get beyond the walls of Franklin High School and we are able to share our story with the world."

Franklin has been collaborating with Linden High School on a "Film Challenge Master Class" for about a decade, Pinnix said. The student filmmakers come together to brainstorm, storyboard, location scout, shoot, create promos and deliver finished films in just three hours. "The Challenge" is about this program.

"We (Pinnix and Paskewich) both taught television production and they were similar types of classes," Pinnix said. "The students would collaborate together − sometimes they would do a short film, sometimes they would do a combined television broadcast. This year, we thought that we would do a film challenge and give them a certain amount of time to produce a short film."

Pinnix and Bracco said the twice-a-year Film Challenge Master Class teaches many lessons besides honing filmmaking skills.

"It shows them how they have to learn time management. They have to learn communication skills. They've got to collaborate. They got to troubleshoot when things don't go right," Pinnix said. "It teaches them real life skills to prepare them wherever they go − if they become filmmakers, or if they're just going into corporate. You know, if you're the project manager or something and you have to work with different people that you might not know but the bottom line is you've got to get the job done. And they worked with each other to succeed. And that's what the documentary basically tells us − a way of collaboration."

With the students in Franklin, the project became "a crew making a movie and another crew documenting them making the movie." Within the latter group, those students would go into "the why of making the movie," Pinnix said.

After they decided the behind-the-scenes project was a go, the teachers approached Patel and Kotun for their thoughts and interest in taking the filmed footage and adding conversations and interviews to it.

"We ended up turning that into a behind the scenes video on how the film challenge came about," Pinnix said. "And at that point, PJ said, 'Oh, we should take this and maybe enter it into this festival.' We saw this festival − the Garden State Film Festival."

"The language of cinema really does connect people and bring likeminded people together to create something bigger than themselves," Bracco said.

Patel said he was very excited about the project.

"This is my first year in the Aspects program and this is what I joined to do," Patel said. "I really wanted to broaden my horizons. I remember when I pressed submit, I was with PJ at the time, and we just looked at each other and PJ said, 'How do you feel? You're a filmmaker now.' I was like, 'This feels crazy. It was like surreal to me.'"

One aim of the program is to give the students, especially the seniors, "real life experiences" so they can better pursue careers in the entertainment industry, film or television. Pinnix noted the students involved in "The Challenge" were already familiar with making videos, producing a weekly show − Warriors Announcement Network Television (WANT) TV − at school and participating in film challenges.

"For me, as an artist, my goal is to tell stories that empower others and bring people up," Patel said. "And I really think that this documentary about collaboration shows what high schools can do. In a setting where they're pushed for success. And it's all about collaborating − we had never met these students before. But we were all able to come together with the one sole purpose of telling the story. And it really shows how powerful that can be."

Kotun became the one in charge of taking all the footage and putting it together. The previous year, Kotun had a short film − "Truth" − also premiere at a film festival in Atlantic Highlands. This year, to turn what they had filmed about the master class into a proper documentary, the students incorporated interviews and voiceovers. According to Pinnix, Kotun was able to take Patel's vision, produce it and turn it into the final result.

"The Aspects program has always been a very big, important thing to me," Kotun said. "And especially anticipating my senior year of joining WANT TV, the production, all the film challenges that I heard the seniors do. Now participating in it, and especially in a film festival, was something that I'm most likely never going to forget. I enjoy making films, but I never thought about taking it to this level. And editing this was probably one of the more fun and challenging aspects. And especially since this is the first one that has ever received any award. It's really sort of shocking. I still have the recording of it − my camera was shaking, and it was too much for me."

For Pinnix, the award is the icing on the cake for a 20-year career at Franklin teaching the Aspects of Video program. He retires this June.

"This just a kind of puts Franklin on the map," Pinnix said. "I implemented this program 20 years ago − so we kind of started off in 2004. And here we are in 2024. And it's still growing. Students are still interested in making films and technology has changed so much in those 20 years. And we're just getting more and more opportunities for them to explore the entertainment and television/film industry. This has been a good year."

Most recently, Kotun and Smith were awarded "Best Screenplay" featuring classmates Makayla Taylor, Annaria Buchhan and Qiora Rollins at the 2024 New Jersey High School Film Challenge, sponsored by Jackson Liberty High School.

"The Challenge" also has more legs to it − it is being entered into additional festivals and the school board will be presenting it at their conference in Atlantic City in the fall.

email: cmakin@gannettnj.com

Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Franklin production wins student award at Garden State Film Festival