On Wednesday, April 26, Abington Senior High School students participated in the 2023 Greenfield Youth Film Festival, the largest and most competitive in the Philadelphia/Montgomery/Bucks county areas, with over 20 schools submitting films that are judged by industry professionals. Abington students did extremely well at this prestigious competition, receiving the following awards at the ceremony held at Upper Dublin High School:
- Maddie Krassner was awarded 3rd place in the Narrative category for her film, “Revenge,” which uses stark black-and-white visuals paired with an ironic soundtrack to tell a story without a spoken word.
- James Creighton and Aiden Gregory won the Best Producer award for their film, “On the Other Hand,” a darkly comic story of a boy that has a sentient puppet stuck to his hand.
- Vince Hessenthaler won the Best Editing award for his film, “New Normal,” which uses sound clips from actual news stories about school shootings, and visuals that deal with one student’s emotions after the loss of a friend.
The Greenfield Youth Film Festival is a forum for young filmmakers to collaborate, create, and showcase their work while expressing their creativity through film. It includes a full-day academic workshop taught by university professors and professionals in the film industry to provide the students with skills and relevant film-based education in a hands-on environment. The year culminates with the awards night when students are highlighted and recognized publicly for their expression and effort, and given prizes in the form of money, trophies (known as “Greenies”), experiences, and other film-related gifts.