The Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has announced nominees for the Northwest High School Awards of Excellence. Students from the Ballard High School Digital Filmmaking Program earned 13 nominations. These awards celebrate the most outstanding productions from five Northwest states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Productions are nominated by NATAS industry professionals. The winners will be announced June 6 at the Virtual 57th Annual Northwest Emmy Awards.
Ballard’s nominations span eight categories, reflecting the diverse skills students learn in the program. In the categories of best Writer and best Audio/Sound, every production nominated was by Ballard’s film students. This is the twelfth year in a row that Ballard High School film students have been nominated by the Academy.
All the nominated productions had their premieres at the Ballard Film Festival (BFF) in February. This event screens new films by BHS Digital Filmmaking students at the end of every semester.
NATAS nominations by category:
(links provided for films already released on the festival circuit)
SHORT FORM FICTIONOne Minute to Midnight • Ballard High School • James Brammer, Director/Producer/Writer • Claire Kilkenny, Producer • Jasper Swift, Producer
SHORT-FORM NON-FICTION
FTM • Ballard High School • Danny Edwards, Director • Fiona Paskoff, Producer
LONG-FORM NON-FICTION
Living With Ana • Ballard High School • Marley Rankin,
Director/Writer/Cinematographer • Olivia Flego-Wirth, Producer • Saia Dugan, Co-
Director, Co-Writer • Violet Collins, Producer
MUSIC VIDEO
Vardøger • Ballard High School • Sam Zimmermann, Lighting • Jared Lam, Sound •
Saia Dugan, Director • Andrew Voyles, Cinematographer
PSA (Public Service Announcements)
A Day At The Beach • Ballard High School • Marley Rankin, Director, Writer,
Cinematographer • Olivia Flego-Wirth, Producer, Editor • Sebastian Zufelt, Producer •
Madison Jackson-Hite, Producer
A Not So Super Hero • Ballard High School • Jasper Swift, Producer • Hannah
Weaver, Producer • Hadley Mollman, Producer • Grace Stromatt, Producer
AUDIO/SOUND
LIMBO • Ballard High School • Alessandro Rios, Sound Mixer • Nick Toll, Audio
Recorder
One Minute to Midnight • Ballard High School • James Brammer, Sound Designer •
Claire Kilkenny, Sound Designer • Jasper Swift, Sound Designer
PHOTOGRAPHER/EDITOR
Callahan's Violin • Ballard High School • Talin Phillips, Cinematographer/Director
One Minute to Midnight • Ballard High School • James Brammer,
Cinematographer/Editor • Claire Kilkenny, Cinematographer/Editor • Jasper Swift,
Cinematographer/Editor
WRITER
Ever Since Then • Ballard High School • Marley Rankin, Writer
Stock • Ballard High School • Sebastian Zufelt, Writer
The Sculptor's Wife • Ballard High School • Calvin Johnson, Writer
About Ballard High School’s Digital Filmmaking Program:
The Digital Filmmaking Program at Ballard High School is part of the free public education through Seattle Public Schools, and is open to BHS students of all grades. Since its beginning in the fall of 2001, students in the program have won hundreds of awards at regional, national, and international film festivals. They have also won honors from the National YoungArts Foundation and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (the National and Northwest Emmy Awards) and consistently gained admission to prestigious college programs of film and television, sometimes with large scholarships and advanced placement. They’ve been invited to show their work and make presentations at art museums, film festivals, and conferences. The program has provided professional production internships through a variety of media organizations and businesses, television shows, and feature films. Numerous program alumni have gone on to careers in the industry: writing or producing series television programs in Los Angeles, producing music videos for major artists, directing commercials, working on the camera crew or art department of feature films, producing media for major corporations, or working as broadcast journalists. In 2007, Kyle Seago (’07) and Jesse Harris (’04) co-founded the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). It has since become the largest youth film festival in the world. Contact Steven Bradford spbradford@seattleschools.org or visit https://ballardhs.seattleschools.org/academics/digital_filmmaking_pathway for more information.
