BHS film class shows at prestigious statewide film festival

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield High School students of David Simonetti’s filmmaking class distinguished themselves recently at the Ramapo College High School Film Festival which featured student short movies from all over NJ. The movies were screened at the college and students were encouraged to bring their family and friends.

“I thought is was very classy,” Simonetti said in a telephone interview earlier this week. “They called the students to the stage and gave out little Oscars.”
Although no individual BHS film won the three or four of the big awards handed out, Simonetti looked at the numbers: 80 movies were submitted; 22 were chosen; three were made by Bloomfield kids.
“The award was just being accepted to the festival,” Simonetti said. “And watching your film on a big screen in a packed house.”

Simonetti gave a synopsis of each BHS movie.
“‘I Like You’ is a thriller,” Simonetti said. “It’s about a woman being stalked. It has a twist at the ending. It’s creepy and funny.”

“I Like You” was made by Jerimiah Griffin and Allah Rahama.
The second movie he described was “Never Alone,” by Madelaine Haney, Christopher Jeffer and James Camarillo.

“It’s about a woman, she’s alone and has the feeling she’s being followed,” he said. “And she’s following a trail. It had a good shock that got a scream from the audience. That pumped the filmmakers.”

The third movie was”The Better Man,” by Rafael Scafuro, David Broderick and Josh Perez.

“It’s about two guys fighting over a girl,” he said. “They’re trying to impress her and it doesn’t go their way.”

Simonetti lets his students chose their own crews and stories. Some students make better editors, some better directors or are best behind the camera. He said no one is breathing down the kids’ necks.

“My strength is production,” he said. “I let the kids make the choices to find their own voice. It’s how do you show your stories visually. It’s a new world for them. They’re discovering talents they never knew they had. We make it work.”

He was very proud of his students in the Ramapo College festival. Their movies showed creativity and held up well against the other entries from schools with better, more sophisticated equipment, he said.

“The challenge is for themselves,” he said. “When they show, they want to be entertaining. They don’t want to be humiliated.”