John's Creek GA Middle Schooler Awarded Scholarship to NYC Film Program

NEW YORK - May 20, 2014 - PRLog -- Winter Film Awards (WFA) and the New York Film Academy (NYFA) are pleased to award John's Creek GA middle schooler Erica Marney with a scholarship to the prestigious NYFA summer teen film program.

Ms. Marney received Special Mention for her entry in Winter Film Awards' 2013 48-Hour Film Challenge, which tasks film teams to write, shoot, and edit an entire short film in a single weekend using a specified film genre, tagline and prop.  For the 2013 Challenge, Prop Sponsor GrayLine New York generously provided each team with one-hour private shooting time on a double-decker sightseeing tour bus, complete with Tour Guide and Driver.

Ms. Marney received her first real camera just the day before the challenge, she’d never edited or scored a film before and she had no sound equipment.  As Director/ Cinematographer, she led her team of 8th Grade classmates as they successfully made their very first film.  Ms. Marney's film was screened to a packed house of NYC filmmakers, fellow competitors and industry professionals and her efforts received enthusiastic applause.

Ms. Marney will be attending NYFA's hands on, intensive Digital Filmmaking camp, based in New York City's Financial District.  The program focuses on the fundamental elements of visual storytelling that enable the participants to direct their own projects.  Taught by instructors with tremendous hands-on experience and training from the nation’s elite film schools, students will eat, drink and breathe movie making.  Students gain an understanding of the requirements and rigors of filmmaking, as well as the exhilaration of seeing a completed project.

"Erica is a very focused, creative, energetic and all-around cool kid and we are delighted to team with New York Film Academy to give her the opportunity to explore her passion and learn some real skills.  We all fully expect to watch her accept the Best Director Oscar in about 15 years!" says Steffanie Finn, Winter Film Awards Executive Director.

Fourteen-year old Ms. Marney is a straight-A student at Autrey Mill Middle School in John's Creek GA and will be attending John's Creek High School in the Fall.  In additional to filmmaking and photography, she plays the tenor saxophone in her school band and dreams of attending MIT to major in Mathematics or Medicine.

The New York Film Academy (http://www.nyfa.edu) film school programs are designed for a new generation of storytellers: visual artists who share a passion for motion pictures and want to learn by making their own projects in a hands-on, intensive program.   Students come from across the United States and all over the world to learn and work together in short-term workshops or one and two-year degree programs.  The NYFA film school programs balance the study of the craft with practical experience to train students to be the best filmmakers they can be.

WINTER FILM AWARDS (http://www.WinterFilmAwards.com) is a minority- and women-owned 501(c)3 non-profit (pending) organization with outreach to NYC film schools, colleges, arts high schools and many cultural societies; celebrating the diversity of local and international film-making. The WFA Mission is to recognize excellence, promote learning and artistic expression in the cinema for people at all stages of their careers by focusing on nurturing emerging filmmakers to help them gain recognition and in this competitive industry. The WFA annual Film Festival highlights a dynamic range of talent and storytelling capabilities of the independent filmmaking community.