Festival to Feature Student Films, Art

As a freshman, Sean Rositano took a video production class, and he’s been hooked ever since.

The Fenton senior has two films entered in the Ruby Zima Student Film and Art Festival this weekend.

“I fell in love with it immediately and realized this is what I want to do with the rest of my life,” Rositano said.

The festival will take place 1-4 p.m. Saturday in the art wing of Fenton High School. Featured will be 64 films totaling three hours, 18 live performances and more than 200 pieces of art.  There will also be live music, face painting and concessions.

“It has exceeded our expectations,” said Joe Kryza, president of the Fenton Area Public School Education Foundation.

The foundation and the Sarah E. Warner Endowment for the Arts partnered to put on the event. The Board of Education accepted a $10,000 donation from the endowment earlier this month. The event was named The Ruby Zima Student Film and Art Festival to honor Zima, who worked at Fenton High School as an English and drama teacher from 1969 to 1999. In 2007, the school named the auditorium after her.

Entries were accepted from all grades in the Fenton, Lake Fenton and Linden school districts. Categories are divided among three age groups: kindergarten to fourth grade, fifth through eighth grade and high school students.

Last year's inaugural event solely featured films.

“We wanted to expand, and we’ve had more entries than anticipated,” said organizer and Fenton art teacher Kristin Poniers.

Most of the films are just a few minutes long, while a few have a running time of around 20 minutes. University of Michigan film professors will judge the movies in several categories, including story line, technical merit and editing.

One of Rositano's films is a weekly newscast put together by an advanced video productions class, which is shown to students every Friday at Fenton High School.

The other film, which Rositano wrote, directed and starred in, is called Fenton 10-2-2, a slightly different take on a 911 emergency cop show.

“We get a call to the high school for some guy who is going to kill a cat with a volleyball,” Rositano said. “The story goes that the guy was neglected as a child and his anger is finally coming out in his adult years. The volleyball cops get called in, and they take care of it.”

He said the five-minute film took about five hours to make.

“We did a lot of improv,” said Rositano, who plays one of the officers. “We are really good at bantering back and forth.”

High school students can win $250 for first place, $125 for second and $50 for third place. Elementary and middle school students will receive ribbons for their awards.

While his film is all about comedy, Rositano’s approach to the subject isn’t all fun and games. He sees every type of film as an opportunity to build experience in different areas.

“I’m not all about the awards, I’m more about the critique,” he said. “So when I do a real documentary or film I can excel. These are just building blocks for me. It will be fun to see what my friends came up with. Everyone spends a lot of time on them.”

Teachers were also encouraged to submit student artwork from their classes, which can help them earn a $250 grant for the classroom, and officials expect to divide nearly $6,000 among classrooms, Poniers said.

Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for students and $10 for a family of four. Children 4 and under can enter for free. Visitors can also receive a wristband if they choose to leave and come back.

“We are hoping for a good crowd,” Poniers said.