{"id":8778,"date":"2025-06-04T17:17:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T20:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8778"},"modified":"2025-06-04T19:46:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T22:46:05","slug":"liverpool-filmmakers-win-audience-award-at-atlantic-film-fest-youth-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/06\/04\/liverpool-filmmakers-win-audience-award-at-atlantic-film-fest-youth-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool filmmakers win audience award at Atlantic film fest youth competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_8780\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8780\" class=\"size-large wp-image-8780\" src=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastondesmond-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastondesmond-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastondesmond-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastondesmond-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/eastondesmond-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-8780\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Easton Goodwin and Desmond Smyth tied for the People&#8217;s Choice Award at the Atlantic International Film Festival&#8217;s youth film competition. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Listen to the audio version of this story here:<\/strong><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-8778-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/youthfilmawardsjun425.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/youthfilmawardsjun425.mp3\">https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/youthfilmawardsjun425.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Two young filmmakers<\/strong> from Liverpool have won the People\u2019s Choice Award at this year\u2019s Atlantic International Film Festival youth film competition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The short films by Easton Goodwin and Desmond Smyth tied for the award, which was decided by a round of online voting. Their films were among 16 finalists out of 40 submissions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Desmond, 16, says he\u2019s happy that he and Easton are sharing the award.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI got an email that said I had been selected for the People\u2019s Choice Award but there were two really great films that tied for the category. And I was like, man, if there is one person that should have gotten this award it was Easton. So I texted him to see if he got anything and it ended up he did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s a very cool experience and I\u2019m glad that Easton got the award because he really does deserve it. He put a lot of time and effort and he put all of his heart into the film.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NOVEMBER MOON | 2025 #AIFFKids Youth Film Competition\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vG74g8RGRGo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Desmond\u2019s film November Moon is an homage to David Lynch\u2019s movies. It follows a teenager who has visions of creatures haunting him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Easton\u2019s film Past Echoes is a more personal look at a young boy dealing with depression, anxiety and bullying at school.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PAST ECHOES | 2025 #AIFFKids Youth Film Competition\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2iTCLbYKqz4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it honestly,&#8221; Easton, 17, said Wednesday in an interview.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;Growing up, film was one of my biggest dreams and to get to share this award with one of your best friends, it really is a pleasure. I loved Desmond\u2019s film so much and so much work was put into it, it was great and I loved it. I think it\u2019s awesome that we get to share it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The two students at Liverpool Regional High School have collaborated before on a short that also got attention at the Atlantic film festival\u2019s youth competition. Last year, they and some friends made The Absence, which was the runner-up in the people\u2019s choice vote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Desmond and Easton are members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/05\/28\/young-liverpool-filmmakers-create-buzz-prepare-for-astor-film-festival\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Astor Theatre\u2019s filmmaking club<\/a>, which began in September. More than a dozen youth meet every week to work on their own projects and collaborate on bigger ones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The club is overseen by three adult mentors, Desmond\u2019s parents Kyle and Lori, and Dan Williams.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of really, really talented kids at the film club,&#8221; Desmond says. &#8220;They certainly helped me with my film. They\u2019re very supportive of the whole thing, which I think is awesome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Easton says that being part of the film club has helped him hone his filmmaking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe film club we can\u2019t thank them enough, they were really helpful. They all have talent and they really did help our (pictures).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The club wraps up for the year when school\u2019s out for the summer. But Easton says more kids should join when the club starts up again in September.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIf you have children who might be interested in film tell them to come out because we have a great group of people and they&#8217;re all so welcoming.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the meantime, Easton and Desmond say they\u2019re going to keep working on their own projects and help spread the word about the film club and the Astor\u2019s stop-motion animation club, which will also get going again in September.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI guess keep making films and hope for the best,&#8221; Easton says. &#8220;The best advice I ever got is to just making films, keep writing, keep filming every day and eventually it will improve and then hopefully I&#8217;ll be in the industry at some point.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To see all the finalist films in the Atlantic International Film Festival\u2019s youth competition this year, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLZuphCUYChu2zDQaswEG97bSKu81IYTKB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the festival\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Email: <a href=\"mailto:rickconradqccr@gmail.com\">rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-8778-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/youthfilmawardsjun425.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/youthfilmawardsjun425.mp3\">https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/youthfilmawardsjun425.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to the audio version of this story here: &nbsp; Two young filmmakers from Liverpool have won the People\u2019s Choice Award at this year\u2019s Atlantic International Film Festival youth film competition. The short films by Easton Goodwin and Desmond Smyth tied for the award, which was decided by a round of online voting. Their films [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[2156,3171,2092,38,3134,3136,2094,3145,3137,3144,39,1911,3140,3141,49,3172],"class_list":["post-8778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-arts-and-culture","tag-arts-education","tag-astor-academy","tag-astor-theatre","tag-atlantic-international-film-festival","tag-desmond-smyth","tag-easton-goodwin","tag-film","tag-film-club","tag-filmmaking","tag-liverpool","tag-movies","tag-november-moon","tag-past-echoes","tag-queens-county","tag-youth-film-competition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8778"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8784,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8778\/revisions\/8784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}