Information provided by Ballard High School

Three short films by students from the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program were winners at Fresh Film Northwest.

This competitive regional festival is coordinated by the Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon. It accepts entries from filmmakers ages 13 to 19 in Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. This is the twelfth year in a row that students from Ballard’s Digital Filmmaking Program have been among the winners.

The winning films included two short dramatic narratives and a documentary. The visual story Comeback, by Avery Davis, Skala Leake, Aaron Miller and Cameron Miller, is about a high school soccer player who suffers a life-altering setback. The film recently premiered at the national All American High School Film Festival in New York City.

Fresh Film Northwest was the premiere of Living Honestly, a documentary about teens coming out by PJ Hase and Skala Leake.

The third film, Eileen, was produced independently by Brendan Hickey with Sam Cleary and received the Creative Expression Award.

A jury of filmmakers and educators screened 130 entries from across the region to select winners for the festival. The festival winners were screened at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium on November 12 at noon.

Living Honestly, along with other new works by students in the Digital Filmmaking Program, will have its Seattle premiere at the Ballard Film Festival on Friday, February 10 at 7 pm in the BHS auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. All proceeds support students in the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program. For more information, visit www.bhsvideo.blogspot.com .