Film is alive and well in south King County as local filmmakers and businesses came together at the final day of Renton Film Frenzy, where the 72-hour short films were screened and awards were given out.
From Oct. 6-9, eight filmmaking teams partnered with Renton businesses to write, shoot, edit and submit a seven-minute short film over the course of three, non-stop days. And on Friday, Oct. 14 at the the Renton Civic Theatre, those eight teams saw the fruits of their 72-hour labor.
“About 140 people attended the screening and the famous Tom Skerritt [of “Alien” and “Top Gun”] gave us a pep talk,” said Ben Andrews, founder of the Seattle Film Summit, which put on the Renton Film Frenzy screening.
Of the eight films, four won awards that were decided by Director’s staff of the Seattle Film Summit Andrea Hays, Renton City Councilmember James Alberson and Renton Municipal Arts Commissioner Janna Kushneryk, who were all judges at this year’s Frenzy.
“Best Picture” was awarded to Spotlight Dance Center and “The Heart of Renton” went to Voice of the Planet.
“Best Cinematography” went to 4 Sisters and Cugini, which partnered with the Rising Reels program and starred Aspyn Allen, Ezra Abolafya, Olivia Barceros, KJ Bible and Arique J., the store owner of Cugini Florist, and Yarah Sutra, the store manager of 4 Sisters.
“Best Director” was awarded to St. Charles Place, which partnered with Empower Video Productions and director Nuk Suwanchote. Cinematography was done by Suwanchote and Tri Trinh and the short film starred James Fox, Ivy Bona, Jeremy Steckler, Austin Payne, Kevin Leung, Nicole Barrett and Charles G. Divelbliss.
These short films (or marketing pieces) best reflected the diversity of Renton, the values of the local organization and the style of the filmmakers. The other film teams included Rain City Market, Renton Technical College and Sip and Stop.
The Renton Film Frenzy kicked off with a producer launch and celebration on Wednesday, Oct. 5 and the 72 hours began at 5 p.m. on Oct. 6, after a final mystery element was revealed to the teams. From there, filmmakers and organizations had exactly three days to create the short films, a challenge that required a complete lack of sleep and an abundance of creativity, ingenuity and grit.
Scripts were written and costumes and props should be prepared by the end of Thursday, with film productions taking place over Friday and Saturday. Films were then edited, completed and dropped off with the required paperwork by 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9.
Trina Griffin from the Rising Reels program holds the “Best Cinematography” award. Photo courtesy of Rising Reels
