Young Armenian filmmaker’s documentary to be screened in Washington

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Pendragwn Youth Film Festival (PYFF) returns to the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Washington, on March 24 to give youth aging 11 to 18 years old an outlet to hone their storytelling and celebrate the achievements of young filmmakers on the big screen.

Fifteen short films in four categories– documentary, narrative, music video and super short– will be screened, thehillishome.com reports.

The films are as varied as the young people who created them; some are deeply personal, some are experimental and others simply want to make us laugh.

Last year’s Audience Choice Award winners Luz Bauer and Sophia Pink of Washington, D.C., have returned to this year’s festival with their short film, Help Wanted. Their stop-motion film is a humorous take on a mother’s overwhelming day.

More Than That, a short film made by Native American students in South Dakota that took YouTube by storm and was featured by NPR’s Morning Edition, aims to raise awareness about Native American stereotypes.

Corner of the World, a documentary from Armenian filmmaker, Hovan Baghdasaryan, gives a view of daily life in Armenia from the perspective of a young boy.

15 finalists were chosen from 75 films across 7 different countries. The festival will also include a performance from Zip Zap Circus, a South African based non-profit dedicated to transforming youth through the performing arts.

The films are competing for four awards: Grand Prize, Creative Lens, Golden Dragwn, and Audience Choice. This year’s prizes include a two-week documentary film camp with Docs in Progress in Silver Spring, Maryland; an editing class with Future Media Concepts in Washington, D.C., passes to SilverDocs-AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Film Festival; and copyright free high definition stock footage from Footage Firm as well as a year’s free download membership to Videoblocks.com.