Sequoyah High School's 'Winter Again' Takes Five Awards at 8th Annual Cherokee Student Film Festival

More than 250 people packed Woodstock Arts for a live screening of 22 student films, with two local students also earning full-week SCAD scholarships

More than 250 people packed Woodstock Arts on March 24 for the 8th Annual Cherokee Student Film Festival — a live screening and awards night that has become one of Cherokee County's most compelling showcases of homegrown creative talent. Twenty-two student-made films competed before a panel of industry judges, and by the end of the evening, it was clear that something special had come out of Sequoyah High School.

The film "Winter Again," produced by Shivin Amrith, Noelle Graden, and Brooklyn Baggarly, swept the night with five awards: the Award of Excellence for Overall Highest Score, Best Cinematography, Best Drama, and Audience Choice. The photo from the evening tells the story without words — one of the filmmakers arms raised, trophy aloft, the kind of unbridled joy that only comes from months of hard work paying off in front of a full house.

Sequoyah wasn't finished. "The Bust," from Ethan Hyson, Gavin Jones, and Anderson Pilotto, won Best Comedy, and "Sam's Face," by Layla Carras, Emily Williams, and Luca Rufino, claimed Best Sci-Fi/Superhero. Woodstock High School's "The Caw" — produced by David De Matos Freitas, Brayden Ensley, Evelyn Battle, and Aveline Klimowicz — earned Best Mystery/Suspense and Best Sound Quality. Etowah High School's "The Thing with Feathers," by Corinne Thomas, Ella Stelmach, and Emily Jung, took Best Use of Line and Best Use of Prop. Cherokee High School's "Mileage Man," produced by Mitchell Grauso, Abigail Gaddis, and Madilynn Gaddis, won Audience Choice among non-qualifying films. All four CCSD high schools left with hardware.

Two students earned an honor that reaches well beyond the festival stage. David De Matos Freitas of Woodstock High and Corinne Thomas of Etowah were each awarded teacher-nominated scholarships for a full week of intensive film study at the SCAD Summer Seminar in Savannah. The Savannah College of Art and Design consistently ranks among the nation's top art and design universities, and its film and television programs have placed graduates across major productions. For two Cherokee County students, that pipeline just got a little shorter.

Films were evaluated against professional industry standards by a panel with deep ties to Georgia's higher education and film communities: Shawn Bulloch of Clayton State, Steven Hames of Berry College, Mitch Olson of Kennesaw State University, James Hamilton of the University of Georgia, Brent Zaffino of the Peaberry Film Festival, local media producer Justin Webb, and Julian De La Cal and Graham Scott of SCAD. Judging categories included Best Cinematography, Best Sound Quality, Best Use of Prop, Best Use of Line, and Best of Genre — the same criteria used to evaluate working professionals.

That standard is intentional. The festival is co-produced by the Cherokee Office of Economic Development — the county's economic growth arm, which has made film and media workforce development a strategic priority — and the Cherokee County School District's Audio/Video Technology and Film educators. The event caps a year-long program that began with the 8th Annual Cherokee Student Film Summit, an immersive, in-county experience where upper-level AVTF students engaged directly with working industry professionals before channeling what they learned into their festival submissions.

Woodstock Arts, the black-box theater and gallery space anchoring downtown Woodstock's arts district, gave the whole evening the feel of a genuine public premiere — not a school assembly. For student filmmakers who spent months writing, shooting, and editing their projects, that distinction matters. Screening your work before 250 people in a professional venue is a different experience than uploading it to a class portal, and that difference is exactly what the festival's organizers are after.

Georgia has grown into one of the most active film production states in the country, and Cherokee County has positioned itself to feed that industry with trained local talent rather than simply watch it happen elsewhere. Events like this one are where that pipeline begins.

Residents can watch this year's winning films at youtube.com/@shschiefstv. More information about Cherokee County's film and media sector is available at cherokeega.org/film-media.