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As they have for sixteen years now, Walpole students took to the red carpet on Thursday, May 17, for the Walpole Film Festival’s award show. The awards and nominees are listed as follows:
Best Film winner: “This Was You.” Nominees included “Drivers Ed,” “The Education of Mr. Whittenhall,” “Grim,” “Hit and Run,” “Hung Up,” “Overdue,” “Six Feet of Separation,” “So Below,” and “The Untold Story of the Kumquat Crew.”
Best Faculty Performance winner: Mr. St. Martin (“Drivers Ed,” “So Below,” “This Was You”). Nominees included Mr. Bakale (“Grim,” “Overdue,” “The Untold Story of the Kumquat Crew”), Mr. Salmans (“Drivers Ed”), Gillian Whittenhall (“The Education of Mr. Whittenhall”), and Mr. Whittenhall (“The Education of Mr. Whittenhall,” “So Below”).
Best Director winner: Ryan Conlon and Dana DeMartino (“This Was You”). Nominees included Ava Straccia, Sophie D’Attilio and Griffin Wilkins (“Driver's Ed”), Annie Dolan, Ciara Healy, Tara Gordon and Jess Ferguson (“Hung Up”), Nicole Waters and Jess Horne (“Six Feet of Separation”), and Lena Astarjian and Ellen Irmiter (“So Below”).
Best Performance in a Lead Role winner: Ellen Irmiter (“So Below”). Nominees included Emma Coakley (“This Was You”), Juliana Mello (“Overdue”), Paul Vozzella (“Hit & Run”), and Griffin Wilkins (“Driver’s Ed”).
Best Performance in a Supporting Role winner: Joey Haskins (“Overdue”). Nominees included Emily Morrier (“Overdue”), Javon Jackson (“Overdue”), Jeff Lennon (“This Was You”), and Riley Banks (“The Untold Story of the Kumquat Crew”).
Best Screenplay winner: Emily Morrier and Juliana Mello (“Overdue”). Nominees included Ava Straccia, Riley Banks and Nicole Waters (“Driver’s Ed”), Riley Banks (“The Untold Story of the Kumquat Crew”), Ryan Conlon and Dana DeMartino (“This Was You”), and Ellen Irmiter (“So Below”).
Best Art Direction winner: Ava Straccia, Sophie D’Attilio, Erica Sandquist, and Alex Rodia (“Driver’s Ed”). Nominees included Ryan Conlon, DeMartino, Danielle Anastasia, Hannah Cullen (“This Was You”), Myles Qualter and Ryan Barry (“The Untold Story of the Kumquat Crew”), and Caitlin McCabe (“Grim”).
Best Editing winner: Dana DeMartino, Dennis Crowley, Nicole Hegarty, Ryan Conlon (“This Was You”). Nominees included Noble Namenson and Lena Astarjian (“So Below”), Myles Qualter and Ryan Barry (“The Untold Story of the Kumquat Crew”), Annie Dolan, Ciara Healy, Tara Gordon and Jess Ferguson (“Hung Up”), and Nicole Waters and Jess Horne (“Six Feet of Separation”).
Best Achievement in Music winner: Toshak Patel (“Overdue” and “Hung Up”). Nominees included Halle Losordo (“This Was You”), Noah Talbot (“Grim”), and Katie Hurwitz (“So Below”).
Best Cinematography winner: Ryan Conlon and Dana DeMartino (“This Was You”). Nominees included Lena Astarjian (“So Below”), Ava Straccia, Sophie D’Attilio and Griffin Wilkins (“Driver’s Ed”), and Emily Morrier, Joey Haskins, and Riley Mulroy (“Overdue”).
An honorary award for Best Director was also given to Mike McCarthy for “Unified Friends.”
When the Walpole Film Festival began in 2003, it was one of the nation’s first public school film festivals. Now, well over a decade later, the annual event shows no signs of slowing down. It is a testament to the creativity of the town’s youth - and to the dedication of the Walpole Public Schools staff that fosters that creativity.
Additional information, including acceptance speeches of the winners, can be found at www.whsfilmfestival.com.
