OCHS Student’s Film to Be Screened in NYC for ‘2016 All American High School Film Festival’

OCNJ Daily

Lucas Rooney

It is not every day you have the opportunity to tell your peers that a movie your produced will be screened in Times Square, however Lucas Rooney of Ocean City is living that dream as we speak. The Ocean City High School Junior’s comedy film “Man Bun” was officially selected for the 2016 All American High School Film Festival, which will hold a screening for all the student films the over the weekend of October 7^th-9^th at the AMC Empire Theaters in New York City’s Times Square. “This could not have been created without the utter cooperation of my friends for whom without them, my film would not exist.”- Lucas Rooney, 16 The All American High School Film Festival was designed to showcase a variety of the best student made films from around the world. This year they received over 1,850 submissions from 48 different states and more than 40 countries. Since Lucas was an official section, he is eligible to win one of the organization’s many awards that total over $300,000 in scholarships and prizes. The winners will be announced on Sunday, October 9^th at the Teen Indie Awards Show at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. Since Lucas was 11, he has attended a one-week camp called Cape May Film Camp, which is a part of the Cape May Film Society. Lucas has also spent many years creating his own short films for his YouTube channel. He had the experience of a lifetime this past summer when he flew to Florence, Italy for four weeks to attend a study abroad session with Abbey Road Programs in Filming and Cinema, where he produced a short film yet to be released. Lucas hopes to pursue a career in both computer science and film/ editing/ production. Lucas is also enrolled in the TV/Media Program at Ocean City High School, currently in TV/Media 2. The school’s TV studio was just remodeled this past summer, with the new reveal happening as the 2016-2017 school year began. The updated studio offers a better layout and more resources for students interest in media production. You can catch Lucas’ film on Saturday, October 8^th at 4:40PM. To buy tickets, go to the All American High School Film Festival’s website at www.hsfilmfest.com.