Tenth Annual Hendrick Hudson Film Festival Held
Friday, April 20 marked the 10th annual Hendrick Hudson Film Festival, and the students at Hendrick Hudson High School were honored to have keynote speaker Andrew Jenks, a an alumnus who is now an MTV star on the show “World of Jenks.”
At age 16, Jenks founded the film festival and secured James Earl Jones as the keynote speaker.
The purpose of the film festival is to give a chance for young filmmakers to showcase their films in front of a real crowd in a real theater.
The film festival was originated by Jenks in 2002. During the event, the students show different films made by their peers in schools like Briarcliff, Byram Hills, Lakeland, Pelham, Westlake, New Rochelle, PutnamValley and Clarkstown.
Jenks said their goal is to be the most substantive and entertaining high school film festival in the country and to inspire, to learn and to appreciate the talent in our backyards.
The film festival at Hendrick Hudson first began when Jenks’ grandfather was moving into a nursing home and Jenks wanted to see what it felt like to live in one also.
“I was a freshman in college and I thought it would be an interesting documentary to see what it was like,” Jenks said.
He was determined to get the job done and greatly appreciated being able to experience this opportunity.
The process he went through was calling all different types of nursing homes – but no one understood what he wanted to do.
“They didn’t get it. ‘What are you talking about moving in, you’re 18 years old?’ they all told me,” Jenks said.
That was his goal, though, to live on the other side of the spectrum. After calling a bunch of nursing homes, one in Florida agreed and said that he could move in. He filmed for five weeks and started entering the footage into different film festivals. He kept getting denied but still was encouraged to show his movie. Eventually, HBO called him and bought his documentary – the type of success Jenks was dreaming of.
Jenks said he lives by the phrase “Fake it ‘till you make it” to get through the filmmaking business.
Hendrick Hudson High School Film Club Adviser Paul LaValle said he was extremely grateful to have Jenks speak to his students.
“Andrew has this passion and ambition to develop a film festival so kids like himself could showcase there films and let people know what is happening in their backyards,” LaValle said. “Having Jenks as the speaker of the film festival really shows that all the time and effort you put into your work is completely worth it in the end. His message also was that if you keep trying and never give up then you can and will make it in the future you just have to never give up.”
The film festival allows film makers to make their imagination come to life. This year film makers were awarded in five categories: comedy, animation, documentary, music video, and drama. TheHendrick Hudson High Schoollooks forward to many more years in which young filmmakers will be able to showcase their hard work to the community.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
