NAVAJO Company interns are finalists at the 2011 Greenlight Earth Day Film Festival and Awards Ceremony
April 22, 2011, Milpitas, CA: NAVAJO Company’s 2010 summer interns, Grace Chen and Max Martinez, were honored last night by the Palo Alto, CA-based Midpeninsula Media Center at the 2011 Greenlight Earth Day Film Festival and awards show. They were selected as one of five winning finalists in the high school category for their internship video project titled: “Bay Area Energy Solutions".
In celebration of Earth Day 2011, the festival enabled some of the area’s brightest young minds to show off their filmmaking talents—and their concern for the environment. Now in its sixth year, the festival is a competition in which local youth as young as five years of age and adults submit their own homemade films about what they and others can do to reduce their impact on the environment. Among the finalists in this year’s festival were residents from Fremont, Los Altos, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto and San Jose, including NAVAJO Company summer interns, Grace Chen and Max Martinez.
“It was started as a way to get young people involved in thinking critically about what they can do to improve their impact on the environment,” said Brad Sanzenbacher, youth services coordinator for the Media Center in Palo Alto, which founded the annual event. “So, to do that through the medium of filmmaking inspires them to tell that through technology.”
The films were judged by the Media Center, and five finalists were selected from each of the three age categories—high school, middle school and “open”, for youths and adults. Each of the finalists’ winning films was screened and then category winners were awarded their prizes at last night’s festival. The Cities of Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose and Sunnyvale along with the Media Center and the Palo Alto Weekly/Palo Alto Online were this year’s sponsors of the gala event.
“We have a very fun crop of quality films this year, and we're excited to meet the filmmakers,” said Brad, who helped to judge the films along with nine other judges. “We received about 30 submissions from East Palo Alto, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Jose, and a few other cities in the region.”
NAVAJO intern, Grace Chen, a student at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, and her partner, Max Martinez from Valley Christian High School in San Jose, chose a unique theme for their film—alternative energy sources.
“The issues of our limited supply of oil and coal resources, as well as the harmful effects they have on the environment, have been getting a lot of attention in the media and news lately. So, I wanted to look at the resources we have to find a solution to this issue,” said Grace.
Grace and Max traveled far and wide to interview experts in the fields of green technology and alternative energy, including a few from a bio-sciences research facility in Berkeley, and a geo-thermal company in Sausalito. What they discovered, Grace said, gave them hope that a widespread solution to the issue can and will be found soon.
“With our film, we wanted to not only spread awareness of alternative fuel sources that are out there, but also to let people know that this idea of ‘green technology’ is real, and it’s out there,” Grace added. “It’s not so far-fetched anymore, and it’s being researched and developed right here and right now, in our Bay Area communities.”
Grace and Max thought the Greenlight Earth Day Film Festival would be another great way to call attention to the issue.
“We thought it could help show our video to an even wider audience, and maybe it could inform and encourage people to take action and be part of the solution to our energy problem,” Max said. “And, to encourage more people to look into alternative energy sources.” Max went on to note that he particularly enjoyed the location shoots and interviews. He also indicated that they captured 40 minutes of interviews with Bay Area companies and organizations on film and then had the daunting task of editing it all down to 15 minutes to tell their story. Max felt it was a great project to work on and well worth the intensity of the two months of filmmaking and editing that it required.
When asked if they would do it all over again, their collective response was a resounding: “Yes, in a heartbeat!” BACK
April 22, 2011, Milpitas, CA: NAVAJO Company’s 2010 summer interns, Grace Chen and Max Martinez, were honored last night by the Palo Alto, CA-based Midpeninsula Media Center at the 2011 Greenlight Earth Day Film Festival and awards show. They were selected as one of five winning finalists in the high school category for their internship video project titled: “Bay Area Energy Solutions".
In celebration of Earth Day 2011, the festival enabled some of the area’s brightest young minds to show off their filmmaking talents—and their concern for the environment. Now in its sixth year, the festival is a competition in which local youth as young as five years of age and adults submit their own homemade films about what they and others can do to reduce their impact on the environment. Among the finalists in this year’s festival were residents from Fremont, Los Altos, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto and San Jose, including NAVAJO Company summer interns, Grace Chen and Max Martinez.
“It was started as a way to get young people involved in thinking critically about what they can do to improve their impact on the environment,” said Brad Sanzenbacher, youth services coordinator for the Media Center in Palo Alto, which founded the annual event. “So, to do that through the medium of filmmaking inspires them to tell that through technology.”
The films were judged by the Media Center, and five finalists were selected from each of the three age categories—high school, middle school and “open”, for youths and adults. Each of the finalists’ winning films was screened and then category winners were awarded their prizes at last night’s festival. The Cities of Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose and Sunnyvale along with the Media Center and the Palo Alto Weekly/Palo Alto Online were this year’s sponsors of the gala event.
“We have a very fun crop of quality films this year, and we're excited to meet the filmmakers,” said Brad, who helped to judge the films along with nine other judges. “We received about 30 submissions from East Palo Alto, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Jose, and a few other cities in the region.”
NAVAJO intern, Grace Chen, a student at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, and her partner, Max Martinez from Valley Christian High School in San Jose, chose a unique theme for their film—alternative energy sources.
“The issues of our limited supply of oil and coal resources, as well as the harmful effects they have on the environment, have been getting a lot of attention in the media and news lately. So, I wanted to look at the resources we have to find a solution to this issue,” said Grace.
Grace and Max traveled far and wide to interview experts in the fields of green technology and alternative energy, including a few from a bio-sciences research facility in Berkeley, and a geo-thermal company in Sausalito. What they discovered, Grace said, gave them hope that a widespread solution to the issue can and will be found soon.
“With our film, we wanted to not only spread awareness of alternative fuel sources that are out there, but also to let people know that this idea of ‘green technology’ is real, and it’s out there,” Grace added. “It’s not so far-fetched anymore, and it’s being researched and developed right here and right now, in our Bay Area communities.”
Grace and Max thought the Greenlight Earth Day Film Festival would be another great way to call attention to the issue.
“We thought it could help show our video to an even wider audience, and maybe it could inform and encourage people to take action and be part of the solution to our energy problem,” Max said. “And, to encourage more people to look into alternative energy sources.” Max went on to note that he particularly enjoyed the location shoots and interviews. He also indicated that they captured 40 minutes of interviews with Bay Area companies and organizations on film and then had the daunting task of editing it all down to 15 minutes to tell their story. Max felt it was a great project to work on and well worth the intensity of the two months of filmmaking and editing that it required.
When asked if they would do it all over again, their collective response was a resounding: “Yes, in a heartbeat!” BACK