Youth Walk The Red Carpet For Be The Change 406 Video Project

Press release Be The Change 406:

Beaverhead County young filmmakers walked an actual red-carpet Saturday as their short videos, targeting healthy, drug-free youth, premiered at Big Sky Cinema in Dillon, part of the second annual Beaverhead County Red Carpet Video Project. The Be the Change 406 Coalition, which targets reducing underage substance use, sponsored the event.

Videos, created on cell phones and laptops, took on Hollywood proportions when shown to an admiring audience of the filmmakers, parents, and interested community members. Six student teams from Beaverhead County High School, Dillon Middle School, and the Lima School District created and directed their individualized interpretation of the Red Ribbon Week theme: “Drug Free Looks Like Me.”

BCHS “Beavers” team” juniors and twin sisters Jo and Co Niglio, took home the top prize of $1,000 for their haunting, thought-provoking anima submission. The winning Middle School TEM Time team of DMS sixth graders, Marissah Stoddard, Madison Sampson, and Tilly Kreiner used humor and an original rap song to make their video stand out and receive $500. Red carpet video judges considered content, originality, videography interest, clarity, and the use of references and credits for each submission.

The local Red Carpet event is the brain child of BTC406 Executive Board member Andrea Schurg who works closely with the Youth Coalition and is the Project AWARE coordinator for Dillon Elementary School District #10. Schurg wanted to inspire and empower youth to find their natural high and develop the skills and courage to live healthy drug free lives. “These videos show remarkable creativity and innovation in reinforcing the theme of “Drug Free Looks Like Me”’” she said.

Big Sky Cinema manager Stan Smith welcomed future filmmakers to the “big screen” premiere of their videos, encouraged their efforts, and told the audience these shorts will soon be a part of every movie showing’s opening “trailer” in the Dillon cinema.

Other competition contenders included submittals from the eighth grade Lima Bears team: Kalen Martinell, Luke Wendt, and Gus Huntsman. Dillon Middle School contenders are all seventh-grade teams: Dino-Mites - Milee Vezina, Bailey Blake, and Cameron Delaney; Drug Free Looks Like Us - Sophie Nelon, Violet Rhodes, Winona Wagoner, and Zoey Mickelson; and Rap Schoolers - Aven Pflieger and Jordyn Martinez.

Filmmakers, their families, and friends walked an actual red carpet, adorned with large helium balloons, and posed in front of a Hollywood stylized backdrop for their “paparazzi” – like photos before settling into their theater seats. Each team’s video generated a round of applause and shouted encouragement from the audience.

Dennis Schurg of Edward Jones, Big Sky Cinemas, and the Beaverhead DUI Task Force co-sponsored the event.

Red Carpet winners: High school winners: Co & Jo Niglio, BCHS juniors won $1,000 for first place in the high school division

Sixth Grade winners of Middle School award of $500: Marissah Stoddard (l) and Madison Sampson (r). Missing Tilly Kreiner.

Co & Jo Niglio, BCHS juniors won $1,000 for first place in the high school division

Sixth Grade winners of Middle School award of $500: Marissah Stoddard (l) and Madison Sampson (r). Missing Tilly Kreiner.