BOZEMAN – Three fifth-grade students from Irving Elementary in Bozeman recently won the Yellowstone Regional Youth Silent Film Festival.
The 11-year-olds were the youngest movie makers to compete, pitted against other filmmakers up to the age of 20.
They created a film including animation and real-life footage and edited the film themselves.
This was an extracurricular activity that these kids say was truly fun.
“What we thought was at the very beginning, we thought, ‘what the heck, we’re never gonna get anywhere with this’, and now we’re going to Portland,” Emerson Smith said.
Jackson Matney-Baggett, another filmmaker on the project, added, “Yeah, it’s just insane the moment it happened, like when they announced third place I was like maybe we’re going to get this and then we didn’t. Then second place, maybe we’re gonna get this, then no, we didn’t get it. Then I thought when they announced first place we were just not going to win and then it turned out we got first place.”
“Yeah, now I can’t imagine not winning,” said Nathan Andecker.
The three will be heading to Portland, Oregon in June to compete in the Pacific Northwest Regional Competition.
Reporting by Emma Hamilton for MTN News
