Students see their films on big screen
By LEIGH MUZSLAY/Staff WriterVICTORVILLE — Nervous excitement and the smell of buttered popcorn hung in the air as Jerrold Ridenour introduced the second High Desert Film Festival on Monday. He seemed to speak for the entire theater as he jumped up and down waving his arms and called to the projection booth, "Start it."
Students, parents, teachers and friends packed in and cheered each other on as 16 short films from area schools rolled across the screen at the Cinemark 10 inside the Mall of Victor Valley.
"I'm excited," John Velasquez, 19, a graduate from the Lewis Center for Educational Research, said. "This is the first time I'm going to see one of my films on the big screen."
That's the point as far as Ridenour sees it.
"Almost all the schools have film or video classes," Ridenour said. "But all they do is shoot their film and turn it in for a grade. This is so much more satisfying."
Ridenour, a long-time Hesperia resident, started the film festival in December. He plans on having an awards ceremony for the student filmmakers in May. After that, he hopes the festival will become a biannual event.
Already word-of-mouth is growing.
"A lot of people talked about the first one," Erin Gill, 17, said. "They said, 'Tell me about the next one.' "
Gill, a student at the Academy for Academic Excellence in Apple Valley, had a piece in the first festival, but was just an observer Monday.
Ridenour is seeking grant money to fund film workshops for High Desert students.
"This is an art-deprived place," Ridenour said. "I hope that students will see that you can make money doing your art. My goal is that art will flourish."
The festival continues at 7 p.m. at the Cinemark 10 p.m. inside the Mall of Victor Valley. Tickets are $3.
Used with persmission by Daily Press, Freedom Communication, 2002