RFH Students Take Home Statewide Award For Film Shot On iPhone

RUMSON, NJ - Three Rumson Fair Haven Regional High School Film Club members were recently honored with a statewide award for an original student-produced short film.

“Bad Connection," which was written and produced by senior Jaden Lanfrank and sophomores Tyler Izzo and Molly Patten and filmed entirely on an iPhone, was awarded “Best Cinematography” at the statewide New Jersey High School Film Challenge, according to a news release.

The annual competition, held virtually this year and organized by the Jackson School District, featured student-made films from across the state. Prior to the pandemic, Jackson Liberty High School hosted the New Jersey High School Film Challenge in-person featuring a roster of workshops led by industry professionals, hands-on programs with equipment, teacher roundtable talks and a hosted awards show and screening of the award-winning films.

For this year’s virtual challenge, students had five days to write, film and edit their work. In accordance with the NJ High School Film Fest prompt, entries were limited to three minutes or less and had to include the prop of a picture frame.

While many of the other school districts that participated have dedicated media programs to assist the film production, Rumson Fair Haven Regional coordinated its efforts through an extracurricular club, which has its members meet monthly to share their mutual interest and talents. Club officer Lanfrank, alongside Izzo and Patten, wrote, filmed and edited their piece outside of school and with their own equipment.

This isn’t the first award in filmmaking this spring for both Lanfrank and Izzo. Each submitted separate short films this month to the Monmouth County Teen Arts Festival and were both nominated for adjudication at the NJ State Teen Arts Festival, which will be held in June.

The RFH Film Club conducts school-wide activities and fundraisers throughout the year under the guidance of English and Cinema Studies teachers Lauren Grumbach and Dana Maulshagen.