Magnolia students led a team from The Center School to a major victory and more than $3,500 in prizes by winning the 48-Hour Film Off at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. 

Senior Riley Moffitt (with arm raised), sophomore Tara Conley (far left)  and junior Sam Wolk (far right)  are the Magnolia students  on the team that competed against teens from seven other western Washington high schools. 

The student filmmakers were given 48 hours to produce a three minute film from start to finish.   The assignment was to produce a movie on the theme ”Show us your Jam” that incorporated a musical instrument, a  scene of artistic inspiration and the line “behind the performer.”

The Center School team filmed all day in Magnolia. While most teams went the expected route and made films with musical themes, the Center School team took the assignment literally and made a movie about jam – with hilarious results.

The movies were shown at the SIFF Cinema at Seattle Center, and the winning entry was announced to a packed house.   The Center School entry, “Jam the Jam,” was the favorite of both the audience and the judges.

The Center School was awarded $2,500 for the school’s film program, which is under the direction of Ms. Erin Katz. In addition, Moffitt who was the  film’s primary writer,  was awarded a $1,000 scholarship to The Prodigy Camp, a screenwriting program for promising teen filmmakers. Team members also got an assortment of other merchandise including a GoPro “wearable” video camera for the school film program.

The movie is not yet available online but we will provide a link when we get one from the filmmakers.  Congratulations!