The second annual student-led Hart District Film Festival, organized by Valencia High School junior Cameron Gezerseh and other film enthusiasts, drew a large turnout and a diverse lineup of short films created by local students on Friday night at the Valencia High Theater.
The Hart District Film Festival drew in a crowd of supportive parents and students ready to enjoy an evening filled with free popcorn and a 15-film lineup showcasing the local talent in the William S. Hart Union High School District.
Students from Hart High School, Saugus High School, Castaic High School, Academy of the Canyons, and Valencia High School submitted different original works for the chance to win a mini Academy Award trophy and share their creativity with those who appreciate film.
The film festival made its debut last year after Gezerseh wanted to create a community event aimed at highlighting filmmakers and film arcs after he realized there wasn’t an event catered to student filmmakers in the school district.
“I wanted to change that,” he said. “I knew some people who loved films. I love making films, so we got together and we created this event.”
Gezerseh serves as the film festival president and emceed the night with vice president Tavishi Raghunathan.
Throughout the process, students organizing the film festival were nervous they wouldn’t receive enough film submissions but eventually realized those who planned on submitting were perfecting their final product.
“We ended up getting an overwhelming [amount] of submissions this year, we couldn’t even accept them all, unfortunately,” said Gezerseh.
The lineup of films featured comedy, drama, horror, music videos, and other genres.
Valencia High School senior Armand Slaton’s film “You’re Not Alone” was one of the audience’s favorites of the night. His film followed a girl, played by Valencia senior Lily Rivers, who has an ongoing struggle with sleep paralysis.
The film’s eerie plot, with multiple jump scares, smooth transitions, cinematography, and established cast had the audience members eager to know what would happen next. Toward the end of the film, Slaton surprised the viewers with a plot twist that earned him and Rivers’ acting a standing ovation.
Slaton, who was amazed at the audience’s reaction, said that his film came into fruition the last four weeks after submissions were extended because he couldn’t come up with an idea, he said.
“I barely slept, sometimes I forgot to eat. I missed school for three days just purely editing … it was really intense,” he said. “The most fun was definitely making the film. To see it come to life and see other people have such a grand reaction to something that I spent so long with such good actors, my heart is about to explode. Standing ovation and everything was insane.”
Rivers, the star of Slaton’s film, began acting from a very early age and took a break during the pandemic. Recently she has been trying to get back into acting, therefore when the opportunity arose, she jumped at the opportunity to star in Slaton’s film.
She also helped Slaton with set design and other tasks to make the vision come to life.
Slaton’s film earned him and Rivers three awards: Best of the Show, Best Story, and Best Dramatic Performance.
Slaton added that this film will be used for his college application submission to Gnomon, a school of VFX, Games and Animation located in Hollywood.
Students awarded for their respective categories are as follows:
• Best of The Show: “You’re Not Alone,” film by Armand Slaton.
• Best Drama: “Side-Track’d,” film by Bardia Seiri.
• Best Comedy: “Banana Man,” film by Nico DeSesa.
• Best Cinematography: “Big Beautiful Nothing,” film by Corina Pieleszek.
• Best Story: “You’re Not Alone,” film by Armand Slaton.
• Best Dramatic Performance: “You’re Not Alone,” Lily Rivers.
• Best Comedic Performance: “Banana Man,” ensemble of Banana Man.
