Big crowd on hand for first student film festival By Julie Lane It was a standing-room-only crowd that packed the Greenport Theatre Saturday night to watch young filmmakers Quinne Burt and Jeffrey Lang walk off with top honors in what organizers hope will be the first annual East End Student Film Project. Ms. Burt's film, "Moggy & amp; Quinny's Documentary," was a brief reflecting on growing up in Mattituck, a place the young director finds devoid of excitement. She wonders why her family chose to settle here. The film was inspired by a walk home in the rain one day, she said as she accepted her award. She took top honors in the high school division and was, as with many of the entrants, encouraged in her young film career by teacher John Roslak, who oversees Mattituck High School's film and television production program. Mr. Lang's "Audubon's Book" took first place in the college division, telling the story of a youth who finds a magical book that transports him to the places in its pages, and his ultimate struggle to destroy the book. "It feels awesome," said Mr. Lang about his win, describing the film as "one of my best pieces." Second place in the high school division went to Alex van Boer's "Soil and Sand," a film about the struggle to create the incorporated village of Sagaponack. Third place in the high school division went to Marley Biangiardo's "Strangers to the System," a film about homelessness in New York City. Kelly Goeller's "Honduras," the story about a group of Mattituck High School students who spent a week helping to build a house in Honduras among the country's poorest people, took second place in the college division. But the night really wasn't about who won because all of the young filmmakers showed themselves to be creative and talented. In fact, judges Jeffrey Lyons, Tom Leopold and Robert Markell -- who had pre-screened the entries to narrow down the finalists -- had a difficult time choosing the ultimate winners. They were able to finally reach agreement, grappling with the decision only minutes before Saturday night's screening. "The future is bright," said Mr. Lyons, a critic for WNBC TV and co-host with Allison Bailes of the nationally syndicated "Reel Talk." "They all showed talent; they all showed skill; they all showed promise," he said. "I just love the idea of kids doing this stuff," said Mr. Markell, with Emmy, Screen Producers Guild and Foreign Press awards to attest to his own successful career as an art director and producer. "There's hope for the future," he said. Master of ceremonies Tom Leopold -- writer, producer and consultant for such shows as "Seinfeld," "Cheers" and "Hope and Faith" -- joked that he hoped some of these students would "get big enough to hire us." "I love it; I was very entertained," said Lisa Richland, Floyd Memorial Library director. Ellen Gomez of Southold said her enjoyment of the films was enhanced by knowing a lot of the young filmmakers. And Maria Smith from Greenport found "an amazing amount of talent" among the students. Elizabeth Cava of Port Jefferson, who came to support her grandson, Anthony Cava, whose film was of hand puppets performing Act 6 of "Romeo and Juliet," called it a "wonderful" evening. The aim of the program is to channel the talents of the many working professionals, retirees and volunteers in the area to establish a student film center that would become home to the East End Student Film Project. It would provide mentors to the students to help develop their skills. The program was sponsored by the Greenport Theatre, Tax Reduction Services and Times/Review Newspapers with technical support and equipment provided by Poppy Johnson and the Floyd Memorial Library, Ron Rothman and Joshua Voegelin. Organizing committee members included Paul Henry, Michael Edelson, Gary Buckner, Rachel Yellin, Sue Kreiling and Troy Gustavson.
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