Not many students have the opportunity to showcase their talent in front of an audience. The annual Film Festival gives Wentzville students the chance to experience creative freedom through filmmaking.

This week, 22 talented Liberty students were informed that their films had won this year’s Wentzville Film Festival. The awards night will be held on March 19, at 7 p.m. at the Liberty High School Performing Arts Center.

There were 40 films submitted from Liberty with 66 students contributing. The participation, while not greater than last year, was more genuine.

“It’s almost equal to last year,” librarian Mrs. Oliva said. “We had 50 videos I think submitted last year and we had 40 submitted this year. But last year we had a teacher who did it for a class project and made everyone submit one. So this is almost more authentic.”

Sarah Downs was able to experience filmmaking for the first time through her solo film “Trapped” about cell phone overuse. 

“This was my first time filmmaking,” Downs said. “I was really surprised when I found out that I was a finalist, I didn’t really have words on how to describe on how I felt. I was just really shocked but happy and excited at the same time.”

Liberty students had the opportunity to vote for their favorite films while visiting the library with their English classes.

“When our English classes came to the library, one of their opportunities was to view all of the films that had been submitted and then help decide who should win the GoPro camera,” Mrs. Oliva said.

The winner of the student vote was the film “Tunnelvision.” Senior Julia Wolz was randomly chosen from the group and received the GoPro camera as a reward.

Several students were involved in multiple films, including junior Cat Frank.

“I really love that both films (that I’m involved in) moved on,” Frank said. “I’m proud to produce something that people genuinely enjoyed watching. I was surprised, but proud of all the work my groups did.”

Like many others that participated, this was Frank’s first time with filmmaking.

“I’ve never filmed/edited anything like this before, so it was a real shock to see that both of the films progressed,” Frank said. “I couldn’t have done any of it without my group members, especially with the seven minute documentary, that took days to film and edit.”

The library has played an important role during the filmmaking by providing resources and assistance for students.

“It’s the second year in a row and we’ve had so many awesome videos submitted,” Mrs. Oliva said. “Our students are just so talented, and I think the coolest thing from my perspective is when they share their videos with us, we get to see all of the things they do outside of just what’s happening in the classroom, what they care about, what they’re passionate about, what they love, what they’re good at and that’s just so cool to see.”

Seven Liberty videos won in the competition including:

“Phone Down Buckle Up” (sophomores Cailey Chapman, Miriam Solorio and Mickey Kinsella)

“The First Amendment: Our Double Edged Sword” (juniors Marjori Russo, Cat Frank and Katie Cool)

“Perfect Chocolate Fudgy Brownie” (sophomore Elesia Alvarez, juniors Cat Frank, Mikayla Ellis, Grace Fieselman and Taylor Wilhite)

“The Daylight Night” (sophomore Eric Mason, junior Caleb Woods, seniors Maddie Baker, Connor Low, Eleanor McCrary and Lauren Stumpf)

“Ratchets and Robots” (Lauren Stumpf)

“Trapped” (freshman Sarah Downs)

“Tunnelvision” (juniors Cameron Jones, Braden McMakin, Christian Tebeau, seniors Alyssa Fay, Eleanor McCrary and Julia Wolz)