This year, the Rebellion is hosting it’s first annual Film Festival Competition; the object is to pick the winners of each category, and the winner gets a free DVD of all the film festival movies. Go to the link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W8KF2LJ and pick the winners! In the event of a tie, the tie goes to the first entry, so hurry up and enter!

Achievement in Music: Caleb Cofsky

Although an actor in Alby, Cofsky’s main talent is in the field of music: he has made music for various movies in the film festival from sophomore year on, and he is now one of the most experienced artists that the film festival has. If anyone needed some good music quickly, whether it was a Director or Mr. Alan himself, Caleb was one of the first people they looked for to make the music as speedily and as well as they needed. Cofsky’s wide range of music should propel him to the award for Achievement in Music.

Best Art Direction: The Wombat

The Wombat’s costumes are extensive–as any spin off of the Dark Knight’s should be. The trailer features Mr. O’Malley in a wombat suit, Mr. Jean in a purple villain costume, and Mr. O’Malley’s wombat-mobile. Not only are these costumes/designs used hilariously, they portray an insight into the character’s qualities–senior Ross Bubly and junior John Barry are dressed with glasses, button down shirts, and ascots, clearly portraying their relatively nerdy characters.

Best Editing: The Treasurer

Last year, A Serious Student’s had a very successful awards night, winning Best Editing, Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. The most impressive categories of the movie were the script, the music, and, above all, the editing. Dan Meyers wrote the script, Chris Nee orchestrated the music, and Erin Batchelder had a huge hand in the editing process. With fellow directors Dan Meyers (graduating) and Ryan Erwin (Co-Director of Extra Credit), Batchelder took on the task of her own movie this year: The Treasurer. Batchelder’s superb editing skills that she showcased in A Serious Student should translate into another Best Editing award this year.

Best Faculty Performance: Mr. St. Martin (Extra Credit)

Mr. St. Martin, a former winner of the Faculty Performance award in the 2011 movie Hair Salon, is back in his familiar role as the bad guy in Extra Credit. This role of a power hungry, out for vengeance teacher seems to fit St. Martin, for he portrays the role confidently, shamelessly, and convincingly. He’ll have competition from Mr. Bakale in Alby, who has previously won the award in Latin Labors; however, St. Martin’s overarching aggressiveness should translate into the award for Best Faculty Performance.

Best Screenplay: Alby

Written by Jackie Gately and Rory Hardiman, two directors–Alby and The Hall Monitor, respectively–the screenplay of Alby has both a twist of humor as well as the serious, complex plot line necessary to take home the award for Best Screenplay. It starts off humorously, introducing the idea as well as the main character, Alby. However, the plot line remains serious throughout while also maintaining its humor, making it a great candidate for the award of Best Screenplay.

Best Supporting Actor: Caleb Cofsky (Alby)

This is Cofsky’s first real stint as an actor: previously used in a small role in the Adorn movies, Caleb took on the role of Cary in Alby and has flourished, becoming a serious contender for the Best Supporting Actor award right away. Hopefully for Cofsky, the movie’s overall high quality and Jackie Gately’s–the lead actor in Alby–superb acting ability will make these two the first lead actor-supporting actor combo to win both awards since 2010.

Best Actor: Jackie Gately (Alby)

Jackie Gately has yet to win his Best Actor award, falling to Justin Connolly not once, but twice in the last two years. Both decisions were extremely close, with the elder Connolly beating out Gately, one of his best friends. This friendship created a sort of friendly rivalry between the two, and Connolly acknowledged that friendship in his Best Actor speech last year. This year, with Connolly out of the way, Gately should be a shoo-in for the Best Actor. His character in Alby is akin to past characters that he has played, an unconventional screw up that has to learn the right path to take throughout the story, and his portrayal of this character should give him the award for Best Actor.

Best Director: Erin Batchelder (The Treasurer)

Similar to the award for Best Editing, the best director award went to Batchelder (and co.) last year for A Serious Student. This year, taking on her own project, Batchelder looks to continue that trend and take home the Best Director award in this year’s festival. The last time that the Best Director award and the Best Picture award went to different movies was in 2010; however, Batchelder’s experience as a director of a high quality movie should catapult her into the Best Director award.

Best Picture: Alby

Overall, the most hyped award–Best Picture–should go to Alby. Gately, Matt Johnson, and Ashley Waldron are all dedicated directors that have turned this great script one of this year’s top movies. The acting of Gately and Cofsky should be superb; the editing should be top notch; and the screenplay is dynamite, so, barring any catastrophic mistakes by anyone in the crew, Alby should take home the Best Picture award in the 11th annual Film Festival.