The annual Cherry Hill Film Festival celebrates the short films produced by high school students across the entire Long Beach Unified School District.<\/p>\n
Last week, 11 films entered in different categories were honored during a virtual ceremony that included a viewing of each entry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most amazing thing this year is that most of them had to do the work on their phones or chrome books,\u201d Lakewood teacher Paul Copeland said. \u201cWith just the influence of media in their lives, there\u2019s a level of raw talent that\u2019s fun to develop. A lot of the work was very well done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copeland, who is retiring this year after 31 years at Lakewood High School, created the Cherry Hill Film Festival with former Jordan High School teacher Judy Irish. They started with their own students and slowly incorporated all of the LBUSD schools.<\/p>\n
Copeland wanted to make sure they named it something that would include the entire district.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to think of something that had heritage in Long Beach and so looked up the name of early oil fields in Long Beach and one of the names was Cherry Hill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Copland added that the festival’s notoriety quickly grew because \u201c(the students) just love being a part of something that\u2019s bigger than themselves and this district-wide representation. They\u2019re getting their name out there and they\u2019re getting advice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now teachers across the district tell their students about the film festival in September as a form of motivation before teaching them the skills needed to enter and compete for the top prize.<\/p>\n
This year, the Best Picture award was given to Angel Gago from Wilson for his dramatic work titled “Never Gone.” The simple story about a haunting turned love story is a sweet twist on an old trope:<\/p>\n