Arts & Entertainment

Locals Star On The Big Screen

The seventh annual Larkspur Youth Film Festival honors a group of amazing film makers.

The weekend was full of islands, shadows and music in a celebration of cinema.

The Larkspur Youth Film Festival on Sunday gave a good look at the future of film making with some talented students at the Lark Theater.

Marin Country Day School student Jasper Conacher took first place in the Narrative (age 10-13) category for her film Perfect. Conacher broke down the illusion of the perfect family to show the facades we all create just to fit in. Second place went to Andrew Torbenson, who suggested there just might really be a Monster in the Closet.

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Savannah Olmstead and Charlotte Backus took on the serious and growing problem of Cyberbullying in their entry, which took top honors in the Documentary (age 10-13) category. The short film looked at how people use Facebook and other social media sites to bully each other and what the consequences can be when one bully is taken to jail. Eleanor Waterhouse of Cascade Canyon School in Fairfax took second place with The Marin Civic Center Shootout, a look at a piece of important local history.

Larkspur-Corte Madera Patch sponsored both categories.

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Redwood High student Spencer Cross had two entries and got a bit of a surprise. His film Palmolive made its debut and won a very competitive Music (ages 14-18) group. He almost didn't enter the film, but this was the last year he'll be eligible for the festival, so he took the leap.

"I really liked Rusko," Cross said of an entry by Analy High student Miles Evert which focused on the popular DJ during a concert in L.A. "That was a great film, not just for the music, but the (technical aspects)."

Cross and Keever Mulligan impressed the crowd with The Island (Documentary, ages 14-18), which looked at the culture of skateboarders and cyclists who practice their tricks on the median across from the San Francisco Ferry Building.

Matt Zabb-Parmley and Julian Compagni-Portis won the Documentary category with Creative Growth.

Lauren Lindberg took irst place in the Green (ages 14-18) category with Echoes of Exxon, which compared the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska to the Deep Water Horizon disaster.

There was a tie or first place in the Narrative (ages 14-18) category: The Couch by Michael Munro and The Things They Carried by Dan Frantz.

Prizes were donated by Autodesk, Inc. the Children's Creativity Museum, Lappert's Ice Cream, San Francisco Film Society, Stafano's Pizza, the Twin Cities Police Authority and the Walt Disney Family Museum.

Thank you to all the film makers, the jury and everyone who attended the festival.


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