A 麻豆传媒 student鈥檚 loving tribute to her younger sister won first place in the documentary category and Overall Outstanding Film award this spring at the 12th annual Film Festival sponsored by Locust Valley High School. Amanda Gordon, a Lindenhurst senior in 麻豆传媒鈥檚 Digital Film/Video Production class, captured top honors for the second year in a row with 鈥淟ovin Lauren,鈥� a documentary about the life of Lauren Gordon, her younger sister.

鈥淚 made the documentary to show that there is more to children than their diseases,鈥� noted Amanda. Her sister was initially diagnosed with 鈥淚nfantile Spasms鈥� or brain seizures and then later diagnosed with Low Functioning Autism. Lauren is a 14-year old student at the James E. Allen Jr./Sr. High School in Melville.

After judging more than 100 entries from high school students across Long Island, Sandy Kenyon, entertainment reporter and movie critic for Channel 7 Eyewitness News, publicly lauded her documentary. He later tweeted to Amanda 鈥淓verything I said about your film is true. It was the grand prize winner by a WIDE margin: meaning, no other film came close!鈥�

鈥淎manda is a storyteller at heart. She is a great student with a really good work ethic,鈥� added Steven Stankowski, Tech鈥檚 instructor for Digital Film/Video Production. Last year Amanda won first place in the Music Video category and Overall Outstanding Film for her 鈥淪tory of My Life.鈥�

Debra Markowitz, the Nassau County Film Commissioner and VP of the Long Island International Film Expo, presented Amanda鈥檚 awards and announced that this year’s documentary will automatically be entered in the Long Island International Film Expo which runs July 13 – 21.

Three other Tech entries were named finalists. 鈥淭he competition was very stiff,鈥� said Stankowski. 鈥淧lacing in the top five was tremendous given that there were 50-100 entries in each category.鈥�
Finalists were:
Commercial: 鈥淭ostitos鈥� by Juan Carlos Flores, Kyle Tilden, Jaylen Hunter, Samuel Morales, James Wirths and Savanna Morris
Drama: 鈥淔orgotten鈥� by Kai Macci and Brett Eidelkind
Movie Trailer: 鈥淥nly Time Will Tell鈥� by Anthony Sabino, B Dan Bautista and Kyle Schwartz

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Proud and nervous were just two of the many emotions that students from across the U.S. had as they awaited the announcement of the grand prize winners at the national awards ceremony for the Ten Day Film Challenge at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia on June 7. 麻豆传媒 students were wildly ecstatic when 鈥淓ureka鈥� was announced as the first place winner for Best Music.

鈥淎ll of the 15 films in this final round of competition were nothing short of spectacular!鈥� said Steven Stankowski, Tech鈥檚 instructor for Digital Film/Video Production. 鈥淲e were thrilled to be able to attend the awards ceremony when these films were screened.鈥�

Just weeks before, the Ten Day Film Challenge had brought out the cooperative spirit and talent of Tech students in Digital Film/Video Production as they randomly picked a genre out of a hat and then wrote, shot and edited a 3-5 minute short film in just 10 classroom sessions. No work could be done outside the class.

Umari Barnaman of Amityville composed the music that helped his team鈥檚 film 鈥淓ureka鈥� earn Best Video in the national Ten Day Film Challenge.

Five of the six groups finished their films on time and qualified to compete in the semi-final round. Out of the 350 films (from 15 states by 3500 students in 106 schools) that reached the semi-finals, four of the Tech films placed in the top three. 鈥淓ureka鈥� had earned first place in the semi-finals in the Music Video category as well as third place Best Overall film in show, top three in Best Performance category and top three in Best Use of Sound category and, therefore, earned a high enough score to advance to the national competition.

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