On the evening of April 30, 2014, The Archer School for Girls hosted the third annual Archer Film Festival, dedicated to empowering student filmmakers with a focus on the promotion of women in the film industry. The event was sponsored by Westfield and Relativity Education.
“The student leadership and talent present in this year's festival make these types of events worth the effort. I look forward to what the 2015 festival has to bring," commented Reed Farley, Faculty Supervisor for the festival.
The event took place at AMC Century City Theaters. A beautiful reception for the filmmakers and guests was held prior to the film screenings. Chanel Williams, student co-host of the festival, interviewed several filmmakers about the creation of their films on the hot pink carpet, and afterwards guided them toward the Dolly’s Cotton Candy cart and appetizers from The Counter.
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Students from Harvard-Westlake School, Santa Monica High School, Brentwood School, Polytechnic School, Crossroads School, SF Art & Film, The Archer School for Girls, and Providence High School had films screened in the festival. Top honors went to Alana Feldmen from Santa Monica High School who won the Director’s Award for her film “Freedom From Fear.” The documentary-style film detailed a movement within the Samo High Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club in support of the LGBT community in Santa Monica in opposition to the Westboro Baptist Church that carried signs making derogatory statements toward homosexuals. Alana was awarded a scholarship by Relativity Education, one of the festival’s sponsors, to attend their summer workshops. The keynote speaker of the evening was Archer parent Amanda Brown who wrote the popular novel “Legally Blonde,” on which the subsequent film and musical were based. Elizabeth English, Head of School at The Archer School for Girls, interviewed Ms. Brown who laughingly told the audience that many publishers told her to “go back to law school” after reading her script and advised students that it takes an intense amount of perseverance to make your dreams a reality.
The next day, students and community members gathered on the Archer campus to hear from industry professionals during three separate panels. "We were overwhelmed by the amount of industry support and conviction. It was definitely our most inspiring festival yet," commented Kate Heck, a senior at Archer. “I’m so happy with the way the festival and panels turned out. The 3rd Annual Archer Film Festival was definitely our most successful. I’ve heard only positive responses from students, friends, faculty, and industry professionals. I’m looking forward to next year,” added Sam Karny, also an Archer senior.
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Café Luxxe and The Tavern provided refreshments and lunches for this part of the event, which allowed students to personally ask questions of the panelists over coffee and sandwiches after each session. Samantha Karny, Kate Heck, and Ari Eshel moderated the series of panels, which were titled “Women in Film,” “Breaking Into the Industry,” and “The Future of Television.” The following industry professionals were in attendance:
Women in Film Panel
Kristine Belson, Producer of Dreamworks films (The Croods & How to Train Your Dragon)
Kelly Bush, Founder of ID Public Relations
Rena Ronson, Head of Independent Film Group at UTA
Jennifer Wilkinson, Director/Assistant Director of Revenge
Robbie Brenner, President Relativity Media
Trisha Choate, Senior VP Creative Advertising Sony
Breaking into the Business Panel
Vera Herbert, Writer of MTV’s Awkward
Dr. Stacy Smith, USC Annenberg Faculty
Jenny Yerrick Marting, Creator of YourIndustryInsider.com
Ida Ziniti, Agent at CAA
Future of Television Panel
Bela Bajaria, Executive Vice President at Universal Television
Robin Gurney, Vice President of Programming at Showtime
Joshua Malina, Actor, Scandal, The West Wing
Andy Patman, Co-Head of Television at Paradigm
Mindy Sterling, Actor, Austin Powers, Disney Channel, Desperate Housewives
Josh Weltman, Creative Director, and Advertising Consultant on AMC’s Mad Men
Each year the Archer Film Festival continues to grow and with a record number of Archer students signing up to take classes in film production, it is sure to become a long-standing event at The Archer School for Girls.
