By Karen Ann Thumm
Chaminade Film Program Director

The film “Blind Ambitions” won the award for being the best film in its category at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. Affectionately known as NFFTY (pronounced “nifty”) by the festival attendees, the four-day festival showcased more than two hundred films and represented filmmakers from 26 countries. Many of the films were made by students currently enrolled in college film programs, making it an honor just to be among the films selected for the festival.

The film “Blind Ambitions”  was created as an assignment for film class, a first semester storytelling assignment that challenges students to create a film without any dialogue. The production team includes Director Ryan Town ’16, Producer Colette Mendoza ’17, Cinematographer Louis Gerny ’18, and Editor Noah Hosaka ’18. The film tells the story of a mime who struggles between having a successful career and pursuing a possible romance with a blind woman he sees at the park. As a silent film, an original score by Alex Mansour ’15 sets the tone for the character’s struggle.

NFFTY is the world’s largest film festival for filmmakers under the age of 24. The student filmmakers traveled to Seattle for the opening night gala on Thursday, April 23, and attended screenings, panel discussions with industry professionals, and master classes in screenwriting and directing during the weekend. The festival was an opportunity to celebrate filmmaking in all of its facets, and our Chaminade filmmakers enjoyed meeting fellow filmmakers from all over the world.

The film also stars Chaminade students — Thanos Brunson ’16 is the mime who falls in love with the Blind Girl, who played by Carmen Cabral ’18. You can see the film for yourself on the Chaminade Film YouTube channel at this link: https://youtu.be/RoUO2g9pIzs