On Thursday, May 15, Williston held its 7th annual “All New England Student Film Festival.” In total, 32 films from ten schools were entered for the following trophies: Best Picture, Best Documentary, Best Music Video, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Animated Feature, Best Public Service Announcement (PSA) and Honorable Mention. All the films were required to be less than ten minutes.

Williston students took home four of the eight trophies: Senior Alex Kozikowski’s film “Oreos” won Best Editing, senior Dylan Kenseth’s “The Smoking Gun” won Best PSA, senior William Huang’s “The Dancer” won Best Cinematography, and Oliver Demers and Ben Sarat’s “The Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Had to Do” won Best Screenplay.

Winning the grand prize of Best Picture was Hotchkiss’ Jordan Tse for the short action film, which ended up being an ad for the M&M’s, “Jackpot.”

The films were judged by three Patrick Burns, Loren Feinstein, and Kyler Zee, all three of whom are Williston alumni.

Mr. Edward Hing, Williston’s Film Club Advisor says of the event, “It has become a great way to let the wider community know that we have a great program and showcases the incredible talents and resources that are the Williston film making program.”

The festival was conceived of seven years ago by student Rafael Cortina. Since then, the festival, according to Hing, has “turned out to be a big idea. For the past seven years the festival has attracted entries from schools all over New England. Every year the entries get stronger and the competition tougher.”

While the festival has generally been held in Williston’s theater, this year it was held in the lower level of the Reed Campus Center.  “It’s a little more casual and we can eat popcorn, a key ingredient to the movie watching experience,” says Hing about the venue switch.