Local high school students receive Audience Choice Award at Richmond Art Museum's film fest

RICHMOND, Ind. — High school filmmakers from all over the United States and Canada entered 240 films into the 17th Annual Phantoscope Film Festival at the Richmond Art Museum this year.

This year a pair of Richmond High School filmmakers made the shortlist of 14 films that will be screened in a 70-minute program. Their film, "Everybody's Lonely," along with all the others were rated on 10 different criteria by 10 local jurors.

Stephanie Strait, special project coordinator for the museum, said she couldn't remember the last time a Richmond High School film, or any county school, was shortlisted.

That changed with sisters Emily and Maya Hawkins, the only filmmakers in attendance. Their take on the music video "Everybody's Lonely" by Jukebox The Ghost also won the Audience Choice Award.

Emily said the idea for the video came from a school project for her radio and television class taught by Jim Russell, but the inspiration came from a school night.

"Maya and I were doing homework in her bedroom one day near the beginning of the school year, and she was playing a bunch of songs that are on her phone," Emily said. "That song came up and I thought it was just a pretty cool song and it could have a good story so then I just started writing something up and voila."

The two fed off of each other's strengths for the project, too, divvying up the roles to make for a successful film.

"I wrote most of the scripts, but when I had moments where I had writer's block, I would go to [Maya] to give her the script and be like, 'Hey, can you like, look at this?' and keep going with it a little bit."

While Emily's roles focused on the writing and technological parts of the project with the camera, Maya's role was directing the actors on where to go and what to say.

"I work a little better with people than she does and she knows it," Maya said.

Both of their favorite part of putting the movie together was the blooper reel, which did not make it to the big screen.

"There was more film time for bloopers than there was for the actual film," Maya said. "Like six minutes."

Emily said once she graduates, she would like to work in any part of the film industry, but preferably editing, while Maya is undecided between screenwriting, writing and education.

More about the Phantoscope Film Festival

The Phantoscope Film Festival began in 2007 with Strait and Richmond Art Museum executive director Shaun Dingwerth. Strait has been in charge of the festival since returning to the museum in 2017 after leaving for nine years.

She said the competition began as a way for high schoolers to get more involved with the arts.

"It's key when people are in the early stages of their career, to not only to be able to get some encouragement, but to see their work presented in public and to see the work their peers are doing," she said. "I think those are tremendously important for the development of young artists, and that's really an integral part of the program.

Before 2017, Phantoscope was a countywide competition. After Strait returned in 2017, the contest was opened to filmmakers nationwide.

More about this year's winners

The Best Overall Film award went to "Breadwinners!" directed by Kennedy Reid of Savannah, Georgia, who won $1,000 and was the only filmmaker this year to have two films shortlisted. The Best Hoosier Film, also with a cash award, went to "Balmy Night/Vermächtnis" by Nicholas S. Roggenkamp of Floyd Central High School.

Prior to the screening, John Oak Dalton, director of communications and marketing at Indiana University East, had a Q&A session with Scott Allen Tucker and attendees. Dalton is a filmmaker and is best known for writing and directing the movie "The Girl in the Crawlspace."

All the films shortlisted for this year's festival can be seen below:

"Everybody's Lonely" by Emily and Maya Hawkins, junior and senior, Richmond High School, Richmond

Audience Choice Award

"Breadwinners!" by Kennedy Reid, senior, Savannah Arts Academy, Savannah, Georgia

Best Film and Best Cinematography

"Balmy Night/Vermächtnis" by Nicholas S. Roggenkamp, senior, Floyd Central High School, Georgetown

Best Hoosier Film

"Dean's List" by Kennedy Reid, senior, Savannah Arts Academy, Savannah, Georgia

Best Screenplay

"You are Yixuan (no matter if you’re 15, 17, 18 or alien)" by Yixuan Chen, senior, Richmond Hill High School, Aurora, Ontario, Canada

Best Lead Performance

"Dynamic Duo," sophomore group project, Episcopal High School, Houston, Texas

Best Animated Film

"Encapsulated" by Bella Catherine Pianko, junior, Mamaroneck, Mamaroneck, New York

Best Editing

"From Stage to Screen — The Musical Journey of Jacob Sproul" by Phoenix Ray Dorninger, junior, Monarch High School, Louisville, Colorado

Best Documentary

"Doom-Scalator" by William Manning, senior, Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

"Cosmic Burger" by Zoe Snell, senior, Allen High School, McKinney, Texas

"Alone: Short Film" by Ward Jones, freshman, Spanish River Community High School, Boca Raton, Louisiana

"Cacophony" by Elsis Saravia, senior, Middle College High School, San Pablo, California

"You Don't Know What It Takes to Come Home" by Andre Jon Paras, senior, Howell High School, Farmingdale, New Jersey

"Unseen Heroes: Caregivers in America" by Brianna Johnson and Leah Cerulli, seniors, Troy Athens High School, Troy, Michigan

Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at eweaver@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Richmond Art Museum's Phantoscope Film Festival awards 14 of 240 films