Kids Today and Their Short Films

No place like home: The Dallas crew behind the local Samsung short-film contest entry.

Starting today and throughout the next week, you can vote on the teen-made films entered in Samsung’s Fresh Films contest — and, of course, there’s a Dallas entry. In this case, it’s an “action/thriller” short film called No Place Like Home, written by Saundra Mitchell and directed by Claire Taylor. The crew on the film, which was shot in a mere seven days, was made up entirely of kids from the area — and, hey, they won the Viewers’ Choice award, which puts them in direct competition for the overall top prize against comedy and drama entries from all over the country.

Before you vote, you can check out the comments from the jury — which includes John Lithgow, The Real World director Katherine Brooks and Richardson’s own Jeremy Coon, producer of Napoleon Dynamite. Berkner High School grad Coon rather liked the movie: “[This] team has a good understanding of filmmaking, and it would be cool to see [them] experiment with some more artistic or complex execution.” Lithgow, not so much: “The photography was washed out, the sound could have been better. Blackouts are not very effective ways to end scenes, but good performances by both the central female character and the boy.” –Robert Wilonsky