There were no million-dollar outfits, or thousands of screaming fans waiting to catch a glimpse of their favorite movie stars on the red carpet like at the Academy Awards. But the applause inside Valencia High School’s theater on Friday was just as electric.
Students and community members gathered to celebrate student creativity and their storytelling at the annual William S. Hart Union High School District’s Film Festival, a student-run friendly competition aimed to build confidence and showcase local talent across the district.
Thirty-seven short films made by students were submitted for a chance to be put on display on the big screen, according to Valencia High junior Gabriel Karney, this year’s film festival chair. Eighteen of those films were selected and showcased during the film festival.
Karney loves film because it allows the audience to “see inside your mind. Your picture of ideas,” and all he hopes students take away from the experience was knowing that “there are lots of people in their corner.”
The short films tackled a variety of elements and genres. There was animation, horror, suspense and comedy, and in them there were moments that showed off the students’ cinematography, writing and acting. Over the years the festival has gained popularity among aspiring student filmmakers, actors and writers.
Rather than having a panel of judges to select which filmmaker and their team took home the awards for the night, the audience played an important role in voting for their favorites.
The categories were: best music video, best writing, best performance, best comedy, best drama, best cinematography and best picture.
Before the winners for each category were announced at the end of the film festival, Valencia High senior Luke Landress received the loudest applause for his almost 15-minute film titled “Kill John.” Landress directed and edited the film, and his peer Gavin Helms also helped write the script and served as the protagonist.
During a five-minute intermission, Landress and his team were all receiving positive feedback from other classmates and friends.
“This was the biggest undertaking I’ve ever done with film. We’ve been working on the whole thing for four months, from November to February,” Landress said. But when working on the project became difficult, “I was able to lean on so many of my friends, not just in film, but just in general, and my family, to really, like support me.”
Landress began to take filmmaking seriously two years ago and has fallen in love with it because, “I love being able to work in a community to achieve something bigger than yourself, which is what I learned through doing this film,” he said, adding that he hopes to pursue a film and TV career and become a professional director in the future.
His film had sword fighting, humor and moments of suspense, and various filming locations. But what made it the most memorable for Landress was creating a project with his friends, he said, and something he will continue to do in the future. “Kill John” took home the wins for best writing, best comedy and the best picture categories.
West Ranch High School senior Elaine Kim filmed her short film titled “Your Comfort, Not Mine” at the Huntington garden and shed light to the story of comfort women, or women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II.
Her film won the category of best cinematography.
“I think around in third grade, that’s when my teacher introduced me to the topic of comfort women through a short film,” she said. “That was my first exposure to the topic, and it really moved me, even like as a young girl, and that story kind of kept sticking with me until literally my junior year, when I produced this film and I directed it.”
The young filmmaker doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon, and wants to focus on stories that are new, she added, and noted that many films in theaters currently are remakes or live action adaptations.
“There’s new stories, there’s unique voices being told. I hope that my future projects will be unique and will uplift voices from communities that aren’t as hurt, or communities that I’m also a part of,” Kim added. “I love to focus my films on culture, identity and relationships.”
Kim had the chance to film at the Huntington when it’s usually closed to the public due to a partnership between the Huntington and the Ghetto Film School, where she was a fellow. Her film is available to view at the Huntington, she added.
As the festival celebrated local talent and young filmmakers, Karney also wanted the rest of the community, who may not be film enthusiasts, to attend the festival every year, as they aim to make it more “of a community hybrid and less of a prestigious thing.”
The winners for the 2026 Hart District Film Festival are as follows:
- Best Music Video – “The Reason.”
- Best Writing – “Kill John.”
- Best Drama – “1:37s.”
- Best Comedy – “Kill John.”
- Best Performance – “1:37s.”
- Best Cinematography – “Your Comfort, Not Mine.”
- Best Picture – “Kill John.”
