2022 TUHSD Film Festival
Tempe Union High School District is proud to celebrate our Film & TV program through our annual Film Festival. Film & TV students from Corona del Sol, McClintock, Mountain Pointe, and Desert Vista were tasked to create feature films. All submitted entries had to include several required elements, including pops, characters, and lines of dialogue. Students could create films on their own, or work in small teams. Students were given a week from start to finish to complete their films for submission.
Required materials include:
Required Prop (A prop that must be visible at some point during the film):
- A deck of cards
Required Character (A character that must be mentioned by name at some point during the film):
- Alex the Baker
Lines of Dialogue (Must be said aloud, or made completely visible during the film):
- I get enough exercise, pushing my luck
- I just received this message from above
Films were ranked in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for Best Picture, as well as in several other categories celebrating editing, scriptwriting, and best use of required materials.
The winners of the 2022 TUHSD Film Festival are:
- 1st Place: Go Fish (Corona del Sol) - Leah Kay Gunter, Layla Reif, Will Gisselquiest, Cade Koeler
- 2nd Place: The Bakers Ace (McClintock) - Jacob Burrola, Dylan Murillo, Ryan Feeney, Faisal Omar, Peter Nguyen
- 3rd Place: Me (Corona del Sol) - Maria Villaverde-Baez, Dylan Gordon
- Best Use of Character: Go Fish (Corona del Sol) - Leah Kay Gunter, Layla Reif, Will Gisselquiest, Cade Koeler
- Best Use of Prop: Your Loss (McClintock) - Esperanza Tines, Khya Mendenhall
- Best Use of Required Dialogue: A New Angle (Corona del Sol) - Leia Gibbs, Zoe Karpowicz, Fletcher Whittington, Rylee Karpowicz
- Best Screenplay: The Bakers Ace (McClintock) - Jacob Burrola, Dylan Murillo, Ryan Feeney, Faisal Omar, Peter Nguyen
- Best Editing: Me (Corona del Sol) - Maria Villaverde-Baez, Dylan Gordon
- Best Cinematography: Go Fish (Corona del Sol) - Leah Kay Gunter, Layla Reif, Will Gisselquiest, Cade Koeler
- Best Original Score: Me (Corona del Sol) - Maria Villaverde-Baez, Dylan Gordon
- Audience Favorite: Go Fish (Corona del Sol) - Leah Kay Gunter, Layla Reif, Will Gisselquiest, Cade Koeler
- A big SHOUT-OUT to Sarah Jackson for her contributions to the prizes and to Isaac Easley for MCing the night!
- Thank you to our Film and TV teachers!
- Thank you to Fawndena Williamson's culinary class who catered the event. The food was amazing.
2022 Film Festival Photo Gallery
2022 TUHSD Film Festival Judges
- Isaac Easley, Master of Ceremonies - is an instructor in video journalism and innovation. Isaac teaches broadcast classes, produces promotional videos for the school, and works with students in Cronkite News on the Local TV News Innovation project under a Knight Foundation grant.
- Sarah Happel Jackson - a Marcos de Niza High School alumna ('98) Sarah Happel Jackson is an executive producer with James Cordon's Fulwell 73 Production Company in Hollywood.
- Michael Friedman - is a Producer for film and television. Current projects include Yellowstone, created by Taylor Sheridan, and starring Kevin Costner. He produced The Hills, The Bachelor, and The Bachelorette. Editing credits include Project Runway and The Amazing Race, for which he earned a Primetime Emmy Award.
- Jonathan McClain - extensive resumé includes Mad Men, TV Land comedy series Retired at 35, The Bad Girl’s Guide. Additional television work includes recurring roles on SEAL Team, 24, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS: Los Angeles, Trial and Error, The Exorcist, Scoundrels, Without a Trace, CSI, and many others. Film credits include the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven, Walking With Herb.
As a writer, Johnathan’s feature The Outfit premiered in theatres in March of 2022. Johnathan co-wrote the script with Graham Moore (Oscar winner for The Imitation Game) who also directed the film. - Darryl Fox - is an accomplished editor and producer who has worked in entertainment for over 20 years. Darryl’s cut many of the top-rated unscripted series, including The Masked Singer, Dancing With The Stars, Wipeout, America’s Got Talent, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, MasterChef, MasterChef, Jr, and American Idol.
- Rick Fowler, M.Ed. - an Instructor at SPOT 127, KJZZ’s Youth Media Center in Tempe, Arizona. Prior to joining SPOT 127, he taught production in AA and BA degree tracks at three Arizona colleges.
- Darrin G. Ramage - over the course of the last 29 years Darrin has produced 19 successful films, such as Death Factory, Hell’s Highway, Goth, and Dark Places. Mr. Ramage is President of film conglomerate M3 - Maxim Media Marketing, Inc and CEO of production facilities Sun Studios of Arizona.
2022 TUHSD Film Contest Winners!