Student Filmmakers Win Awards
Five district high school students have been recognized for their outstanding work in broadcast and film through two very different venues.
Rustin High School student Brian Lipko has been chosen as one of three scholarship recipients in the first annual West Chester Film Festival (WCFF) Student Filmmaker Scholarship competition. Lipko entered two films in this year’s festival – one of which has been named a finalist in both the Best Animation and Best Pennsylvania Filmmaker categories. As stated by John Cigler, vice president for the Film Festival, this is “quite an accomplishment since Brian is the only high school student with films screening in the WCFF’s competitive categories, right alongside professional filmmakers.”
Also receiving scholarships from WCFF are Henderson’s Nathan Kadish and East’s Scott Fussey. In addition to submitting two films in the Festival’s Youth Film Blocks, Kadish is assisting WCFF in creating a film reel from film trailers, movie stills and photographs that will screen during opening and closing night celebrations. Nominated for his dedication to the school’s news broadcast program, Fussey will be receiving the third scholarship.
Now in its fourth year, the WCFF has worked diligently to practice their mission, “to educate, enlighten and entertain the public through the vehicle of independent and innovative film.” In order to further their mission of giving back to the community, WCFF has joined forces with Comcast to provide annual scholarships to West Chester Area School District seniors for outstanding filmmaking and video arts.
In a different venue on the opposite coast in Anaheim, California, two district students – T. Alexander Amodei (Rustin), along with his cousin Joseph Amodei (East) – returned from the Student Television Network conference with first place for their entry on the theme “Connections.” Students entering contests at the conference were given topics with a set amount of time to tape and edit. At the awards ceremony, the Amodei cousins had the satisfaction watching over 3,000 students view their winning entry in the category “Show Opening.”
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