“Incursion” wins Best of Show, Blockbuster for high school entries at Slick Rock Student Film Festival
TULARE COUNTY – A trio of Miners look like Hollywood diamonds in the rough.
El Diamante High School juniors Noah Lillywhite, Kai Willey and Sam Zurek won both the Best of Show and Blockbuster awards for high school entries at the Slick Rock Student Film Festival last month. The festival is Central California’s premier film competition for middle and high school students in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare counties presented annually by the Tulare County Office of Education with support from the Tulare & Kings Counties Suicide Prevention Task Force.
Incursion is a science fiction cautionary tale condensed into a four-minute short by the students enrolled in Visalia Unified’s Media Arts pathway at El Diamante. The middle school winner of Best of Show was a documentary on food insecurity in Clovis Unified created by students at Alta Sierra Intermediate School in Clovis. The winners were announced at an awards ceremony which aired on ABC30 on May 30 and can currently be viewed at tcoe.org/SlickRock.
The festival had 16 film categories and over 300 film entries were submitted from 35 Central Valley middle schools and high schools. These films represent the work of over 500 students from schools in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, and Tulare counties.
In addition to the “best of show” and category award winners, over 250 of the submitted films received “Premiere Cut” honors. Links to the winners and “Premiere Cut” films are available at tcoe.org/SlickRock.
Slick Rock Student Film Festival winners were:
Best of Show – Middle School: How Clovis Unified Confronts Child Hunger and Child Food Insecurity in the Pandemic, Alta Sierra Intermediate School (Isabelle Balubar – Documentary)
Best of Show – High School: Incursion, El Diamante High School (Noah Lillywhite, Kai Willey, Sam Zurek – Blockbuster)
Alcohol/Drug Prevention PSA: What Alcohol Does to You, Bullard High School (Sean Linneman)
Animation: Orange Beasts in the Clouds, El Diamante High School (Mario Landeros)
Blockbuster – Middle School: Spy War, Fairmont K-8 School (Allison Horn, Sadie Horn, Megan Johnson, Kaelyn Johnson, Ashlyn Johnson)
Blockbuster – High School: Incursion, El Diamante High School (Noah Lillywhite, Kai Willey, Sam Zurek)
Documentary – Middle School: How Clovis Unified Confronts Child Hunger and Child Food Insecurity in the Pandemic, Alta Sierra Intermediate School (Isabelle Balubar)
Documentary – High School: Edmond Wysinger, Redwood High School (William Youngquist, Emerson Pressley)
Flavored Tobacco/Vaping Public Service Announcement (PSA): Vacate the Vape, Spring Valley Elementary School (Kaydynn Ellis, Addysen Nielsen)
General Advertisement – Middle School: El Tarasco Mexican Cuisine Advertisement, St. Paul’s School (Donya Hassanshahi, Camila Espinoza)
General Advertisement – High School: Stafford’s Chocolates, Monache High School (Roberto Cadena Parra, Sophi Orduno, Andrea Fernandez)
General Public Service Announcement (PSA) – Middle School: Teen Anxiety PSA, Alta Sierra Intermediate School (Charlie Bath)
General Public Service Announcement (PSA) – High School: Exercise/Mental Health PSA, Minarets High School (Hayden Livingston, Paul Havens, Solon Walker, Conner Hennard, Gianni Bellucci)
Music Video – Cover: When We Lived in La La Land, Minarets High School – Johanna Ziegler, Dadalus Haynes
Music Video – Original: Mentality, Mt. Whitney High School (Anneliese Bueno, Jakob Gil)
News Broadcast: BNN 2021, Buchanan High School (Noah Roberto, Chris Pearce, Gabe Munro, Rylee Gonzales, Blaise Gonda, Nate Long)
Sports Highlights: Sports Highlights, Redwood High School (Alia Backlund)
Suicide Prevention PSA: Help is Available, Minarets High School (Jezzy Neuman)
The Slick Rock Student Film Festival is generously sponsored by the following organizations: Tulare County Suicide Prevention Task Force; ABC30; Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency, Public Health and Mental Health Programs; and Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC).
