Local talent and creativity is celebrated annually with the Wildcat Film Festival, the big-screen premiere of student films at the North Bend Theatre. Every year, film students, many of them fresh from wins in the Northwest Film Festival (and this year is no exception, see sidebar), present some of their best works during the evening fundraiser for the Wildcat Production Club at Mount Si High School.

This year, local caring and concern will also be a part of the celebration. Roughly 30 short films entered in the “Your Choice, Your Voice” video contest sponsored by the Snoqualmie Valley Community Network will also be screened during the evening, and the winners of the $500 top prize will be announced.

“I just thought it was a great way to give the kids a voice,” said Phoebe Terhaar, a prevention specialist at Mount Si High School and Twin Falls Middle School.

She explained that she’d never done any type of video contest before, but she’d worked with Mount Si and Twin Falls digital media students on developing “positive social norms” screensavers for school computers. These screensavers displayed simple statistics that contradicted some of any school’s common misperceptions about how many students are drinking, smoking, or engaging in other risky behaviors.

From that project, it was a small leap to a video contest, especially since she’d recently told her Mount Si Natural Helpers students about her experience judging a similar contest in Issaquah.

“They said, ‘we want to do that!’” Terhaar recalled, and soon the contest was on.

Students in grades 6 and up were invited to create a two-minute film to influence students to make healthier choices with one of five themes, alcohol, bullying or suicide prevention, prescription drug abuse, marijuana, or positive choices in general.

Terhaar was thrilled with the response, more than 30 films meeting all the requirements were submitted by the May 6 deadline. The judging panel reviewed them all last week, and the top placing students will be notified if they’ve been selected for a prize. The winners and their places will be announced during the evening.

The Wildcat Film Festival is 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 23, at the North Bend Theatre, and will be followed by a showing of Iron Man 3. Tickets are $10, which provides admission to all of the films. Half of the event’s proceeds will be donated to the Wildcat Production Club at Mount Si High School.

Courtesy Photo

Christian Brintnall and Randy Knox receive their trophy at the Northwest High School Film Fest.