Los Angeles Student Media Festival Set For Saturday

After months of anticipation, 36 teams of student filmmakers will find out Saturday whether their short movie will take the top prize during the 3^rd annual Los Angeles Student Media Festival. The filmmakers, who represent a diverse cross section of schools throughout Southern California, will also vie for category-specific awards and other prizes during the only film festival solely for Los Angeles County high school students. The Los Angeles Student Media Festival was created and is annually produced by L.A. Councilmember Paul Krekorian without taxpayer dollars.

The festival received nearly 200 submissions and the final films – selected by an independent panel – will be screened during Saturday’s event at the El Portal Theatre in the NoHo Arts District, 5269 Lankershim Blvd. This year, the show will begin with an improv comedy group from Harvard-Westlake School called Scene Monkeys and the program will be hosted by Jonathan Weedman.

The schedule for the evening is as follows:

4 p.m.: Box office opens, Chef Robért Catering gourmet food truck available for patrons;

5 p.m.: Theater opens with red carpet entrance for filmmakers. Video and photography encouraged. Additionally, a free photo booth will be available for self-portraits inside the El Portal Theatre;

6 p.m.: Show begins and is expected to last for about three hours

Please note that free parking for festival attendees is available less than a block from the theater, behind the Federal Bar, 5303 Lankershim Blvd., though the parking entrance is on Weddington Street, behind the restaurant. Attendees are asked to keep their parking stub for validation. 

Students from throughout Los Angeles County – from Beverly Hills and Pasadena to Van Nuys and Glendale – made the final cut from the 175 submissions the festival received. The field was winnowed by a crop of 11 judges who independently reviewed each film. The complete list of judges, which includes Ron Osborn, a screenwriter and former West Wing writer and Alice Walton, a journalist for KPCC, is available at lasmf.lacity.org/jurypanel.

This year, the Jack Oakie and Victoria Horne Oakie Charitable Foundation is a proud partner of the Los Angeles Student Media Festival, and will present scholarships to qualifying students whose films are identified as the best in each category. Additionally, the film that is chosen for the “Best of Show” award will receive a $500 scholarship and winning filmmakers will also be treated to a special lunch hosted in their honor at CBS Studio Center with Studio President Michael L. Klausman.

Winning students will also receive an official commemoration from the city of Los Angeles for their work.

If you want to REVIEW any or all of the films, please do! You can write your review by posting directly onto Patch by clicking Start a Blog.