To some, silent films may seem like a relic of the past. Yet the genre of filmmaking is very much in the present and future for some local students recently awarded for their work.
Last month a group of Lake Forest High School students received the “Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award” at the 2025 Student Silent Film Festival honored for an approximate six-minute film titled “Between the Panels.”
The film is a collaborative effort of LFHS students led by producer/student Grace Donovan. Now a LFHS senior, her interest in making movies was an outgrowth of productions she put together during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Based on a true story of a father of a current LFHS student, the film showcases a young student overcoming obstacles looking to succeed in the comic book business. The film’s message of perseverance meshes with the festival’s theme of “Creativity Unleashed.” LFHS was one of three winners from a pool of 11 entries from media programs at Chicago area high schools.
“It makes me really proud,” noted Donovan, who plans to go to film school. “This is the first award I have won in new media. It is a milestone for me in my filmmaking.”
Donovan is a student of LFHS new media teacher Steve Douglass, who wants his students to experience the challenges silent filmmaking presents.
“For them to balance and also be ready to perform at a high level, that is what we are trying to prepare the kids for,” he said. “It really is cool to be able to be successful in that, but it is really about the process.”
Douglass said his students may pursue careers in social media marketing, film or television, there are crucial lessons to be learned from silent films.
“Showing – rather than telling – is super important,” he explained. “For them to get to understand exactly what that means in different concepts and a different form of storytelling is really helpful.”
Donovan, working with director Gonzalo Zarazaga, oversaw a crew of 15 LFHS students creating the film. Over the course of four weeks beginning last November, the crew shot in six different locations including LFHS, Lake Bluff Middle School and Libertyville’s Dreamland Comics.
“The more we worked together, the stronger communicative skills we had,” Donovan said.
Augmenting the overall student crew were roughly 20 students from District 67’s Deer Path Middle School and Lake Bluff Middle School.
LBMS students have played extras in previous LFHS student productions, allowing the sixth through eighth graders a chance to observe and participate.
“My kids really get a chance to see what it is like to be on a film set and the different jobs and you don’t just have to be in front of the camera,” noted LBMS theatre teacher Ryan Ingrim. “You can do all of these other things.”
After the movie was shot and edited, the final product was sent to the film festival directors for submission.
The entries were shown Jan. 22 at the Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove with festival organizers providing a custom musical score for each film.
“It is one of those things where you don’t know what is going to happen until you actually show up,” Douglass said of the music.
The judges – who work in the entertainment industry – selected the winners based on the story’s narrative, development, lighting, editing, and camera work, according to a festival statement.
Douglass mentioned previous LFHS students last won the award in 2017 and 2018. Thus he was thrilled with the honor this year acknowledging the students have many academic responsibilities besides his class.
“It really is cool to be able to be successful in that,” Douglass said. “It was a great demonstration and validation for them to be able to go through the process well and when you do that, and then awards will come.”
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
