Bellevue students winning awards in film

Bellevue students are making their debut in the film world.

Bellevue High students in the school’s NEVAC Film program under the direction of Brad Conger, took top honors in the Student Televisions Network’s Spring 2009 National competition. Students submitted a variety of short videos and competed with schools across the country to win in the Student Television Network’s annual contest.

The entire student film staff was awarded an Honorable Mention in the “Announcements/Daily News Shows” category.

Alexander Belfiglio, Taylor Moe, Sharwin Karande and Matt Watts took First Place in the “Monthly” category with their film “School Zone” shown on the city of Bellevue’s BTV Cable channel 21 documenting diverse programs available to students at Bellevue High.

Stephanie Oberto took Second Place in the “Original Short Film” category for her film “Unfortuna.” Erin Smith, Jessica Abell, Stephanie Oberto, and Francie Kaplan took Third Place in the “PSA or Promo” category for their piece “Don’t Litter.”

Smith, Oberto, Kaplan, and Abell were also awarded an Honorable Mention for their film “Anosmia” in the “News Story” category. Fellow students, Tyler Grisdale, Mike Bohdanowicz, Kamen Fattorusso were awarded an Honorable Mention in the “Sports News” category for their piece “Bellevue Basketball.”

The Student Television Network is made up of schools with an active interest in furthering scholastic broadcasting and video production. STN seeks to “network” students, teachers and schools with one another.

For more information on the STN 2009 Awards list of all schools across the country visit http://www.studenttelevision.com/contests/contests.html.

Across the lake, another Bellevue student was cleaning shop at the Seattle International Film Festival. Fourteen-year-old Ben Kadie of Bellevue won top honors this year at The Seattle International Film Festival’s annual digital-filmmaking contest for his film “Sparks in the Night.” He was a Three-Minute Masterpiece contest finalist for the third year in a row at the SIFF.

To learn more about SIFF, visit www.siff.net.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at 425.453.4602.