Eastside High School celebrated the arts with a jam-packed night of student excellence during the 18th annual Arts Showcase on Friday, May 23. The event consisted of an art gallery viewing, performances by dance groups and the jazz band, a film festival, and a drama production of Romeo and Juliet. Students were able to share their passion projects they have worked on throughout the year on this night of dedication and talent.

Eastside Drama teacher Lindsay Pruitt said she has seen the showcase expand during her time at the school since its conception. The goal of the extended Arts night is to provide each program an accessible space to share their art with the community.

”It displays our kids’ work. Because you can’t always get to the other festivals. You can’t always go to MoMA,” Ms. Pruitt said. “So it’s a team effort to really put in all the visual spaces, the dance spaces, music spaces, and the theater spaces.”

As the advisor for the Drama department, Ms. Pruitt has worked closely with the students running the Shakespeare show through the Advanced Theatre Production class. In addition to participation as actors in the play, students also worked running the sound, lighting, seating, and managing the show. 

“They’re really making it happen. I’m here just pouring my energy into their amazing performance,” Ms. Pruitt said. “I want them to make creative choices and have the freedom to try new things and do something different.”

For the film festival portion, a panel of judges voted on the films based on categories including acting, cinematography, directing, and best picture. This year’s awards ceremony was special because winning students were eligible to win cash prizes of $500 courtesy of Destination Lancaster and Lancaster West Rotary.

All six films featured in the festival were created and executed fully by students. They had the opportunity to be completely hands-on in each aspect to bring their films to life. Eastside Film teacher Michael Gonzales said this project helps students understand how a film gets put together, from the direction and technical skills to the collaboration.

“They had a chance to interact with a whole bunch of different classes, different departments, if you will, and it’s really cool to see it all come together,” Gonzales said. “I wanted them to really understand more the community aspect of filmmaking.”

The runaway winner of the festival was Haunt Me Not!, which mocks horror youtubers who investigate paranormal activity by having them explore a haunted house. The film took home titles for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography to name a few, and films like Criminal Corruption and Secrets & Lies took home awards as well. 

Senior Angela Gonzalez Diaz worked as the cinematographer on the standout film, and she got to experiment on her camera angles. Ultimately, she hopes that the viewers enjoy themselves while watching the comedic horror film.

“Honestly, we just wanted them to have fun, you know, feel the same way we feel whenever they watch,” Angela said. “They’re just entertainment, sometimes they’re a little suspenseful but other times they’re really funny.”

Mr. Gonzales was eager to have the students witness audience reactions to their films as they experienced the key moments that the young filmmakers spent so much time perfecting.

“They’ve done a great job with it, and I like them to kind of see the response. We can make these films and these videos in isolation but to have an audience reaction to it is a whole other level,” he said.

Congrats to all the winners of this year’s film festival!

• Angela Gonzalez Diaz
• Moises Rodriguez Estrada
• Demetrius Lee
• Aniyah Scott
• Leandro Guevara
• Lily Greenberg
• Amber Chavez
• Stephanie Vazquez Alas
• Sabreena Becaria
• Brandon Boyd
• Nicholas Alves
• Celine Diaz

View more trailers of the featured films below: