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Stars shine at Northbrook Youth Film Festival
Kent Steinberg (from left), Sarah Gianni, Andy Han and Ross Steinberg, all of Northbrook, at the June 11 Northbrook Youth Film Festival at the Northbrook Public Library | Karie Angell Luc~for Sun-Times Media
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The Northbrook Youth Film Festival brought out some of Northbrook’s brightest stars when several young filmmakers screened their works June 11 at the Northbrook Public Library.
The third annual event, sponsored by the Northbrook Youth Commission, featured prizes sponsored by the Northbrook Arts Commission.
Five films and a panel discussion wowed a solid audience turnout.
Jeff Spitz, a Northbrook resident and Columbia College Chicago film professor (producer of “Food Patriots,” a documentary from Groundswell Educational Films in which he is a principal), and Josh Panzer of the Northbrook Park District, served as judges.
Audience members then voted for prize recipients.
Orrin Luc, a New York University Tisch Kanbar Institute of Film School senior, took first place for “Noval: Conversations with a Revolutionary Photographer,” shot in Havana, Cuba, in spring 2012. The 11-minute documentary features Cuban photographer Liborio Noval, celebrated for his portraits of Fidel Castro.
Second place went to Northbrook’s Nathan Flanagan-Frankl for “A Part of Me.” This documentary explores how his parents’ divorce affected him.
Joe Ferber, 14, a Glenbrook North High School freshman, took third place for “A Son’s Life in Google.”
Fourth-place honors went to Joshua Handler, a New York University freshman, for his college entrance film short called “The Session.”
A second fourth-place prize of $50 went to Ben Conrad and Ross Epstein for their film, “The Unknown.”
“I applaud these students to have the guts to do these films,” said an impressed Spitz. “That’s the power of documentary film,” Spitz added, acknowledging the impact of words put to motion picture.
The Northbrook Youth Film Festival will sponsor the fourth annual festival next year. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, visit northbrook.il.us for more information.
