Redwood City kicked off its first Teen Film Festival, providing a platform for teenagers to express themselves through their passion for writing and directing films.
On Nov. 16, the Redwood City Teen Advisory Board hosted its first Teen Film Festival. The event took place at the Veterans Memorial Senior Center in Redwood City, showcasing four teen short film entries. The participants were each awarded a prize of $100, and a $200 prize was given to the overall winner to help aspiring teens invest in their passions for filmmaking.
“Teens are so impactful in our community, and sometimes their voices are not heard as loudly as they could be. Teens all have amazing ideas, and we want to give them the space and opportunity to showcase and highlight them,” said Telisha Brent, an overseer of the teen programming and a supervisor of the Teen Advisory Board.
The program continues to grow as more and more teens invest in their futures and make changes that impact their communities.
“This is the biggest our board has ever been. Our programs are growing for teens wanting to get involved, and we are out there spreading the word. Teens know what they want, and we want to help them get it out there,” Brent said.
The Redwood City Parks and Recreation provides recreation-based programming for youth in Redwood City. The Teen Advisory Board gives a platform for teens to have a say in what events happen for their demographic. According to Brent, the Teen Film Festival stemmed from an idea proposed by a board member.
“This is the first time we are actually hosting films. We tried to pilot it last spring but didn’t get enough entries, so the board wanted to implement it again. We have four entries this year, so we’re starting a little small, but we wanted to give the directors a place — even if it was only four films — to showcase them,” Brent said.
The Redwood City Parks and Recreation builds a safe and welcoming space for teens. They celebrate those on the Teen Advisory Board and encourage them to impact the community.
“We want to give teens the opportunity to be heard and seen, and the Teen Film Festival allows that on an artistic level,” Brent said.
Tony Gapastione, founder of Bravemker, a film production company, attended the Teen Film Festival and introduced his company to aspiring directors. Bravemaker was founded as a local non-profit film arts organization to highlight brave voices through film and transform community conversations. Gapastione shared opportunities for young filmmakers to have their films shared with a broader audience in the summer of 2025.
“To have somebody with some real insight and intel is going to be so awesome for these young, aspiring directors,” Brent said.
This was an opportunity for young directors to share their passion for filmmaking and for teens to help create platforms for others to express themselves.
Jordana Lenihan is the 17-year-old writer and co-producer of the short film “Hey Mom,” one of the four films showcased at the festival. According to Lenihan, she grew up interested in filmmaking after her friend attended the Cherubs NorthWestern theatre program. With some encouragement from him and her filmmaking teachers, she decided to apply herself.
“I was at a camp, The Cherubs at Northwestern, for five weeks, and it was probably the longest I had ever been away from home and not with my family, and it was hard at first. I was a screenwriting major, and I had to turn in this script that I hadn’t written yet, so I decided to write about my personal experience dealing with homesickness and missing my family and people who I would usually take for granted,” Lenihan said.
“Hey Mom,” took home the $200 cash prize for the night. As for Lenihan’s future, her path with film writing may come to a close, but she plans to continue with her passion for producing as a film or media studies major. She continues to encourage others to go for their goals.
“My first couple of films were horrible; one was almost a joke, I wouldn’t even want to show it. It’s important to find a community, and that can be through people at school or meeting people at a camp as I did,” Lenihan said.
Sierra Shaw, a 17-year-old board member, shared the idea of the Teen Film Festival. Shaw joined the Youth Advisory Board between her freshman and sophomore year and has been a member ever since.
“We had already come up with the idea of having an essay-based scholarship, and we were trying to think of what else you could do with the money we had to provide for different scholarships,” Shaw said. “I wanted to think of a way for someone who wasn’t a great writer to show their creativity, so I thought a film festival would be a great idea to show the creative aspects of students, especially people who aren’t going to become an English major.”
Many facets are taken into consideration when planning events for the City. According to Shaw, when preparing for the Teen Film Festival, the main idea was to give different opportunities for expression to people who weren’t fluent or well-versed in English. Unlike essay-written scholarships, allowing them to create a film about something they were interested in permitted them to showcase their skills more abstractly.
Some other events that the Teen Advisory Board has organized include Skate Against Hate, to raise awareness for bullying, substance abuse talks, and other events to bring people together to raise awareness on significant issues in the community.
The board not only organizes events but also serves as a teen voice for the decisions that the city council is making. For example, according to Shaw, the board had requested the addition of more bike lanes in Redwood City as they felt the lack of them made driving unsafe.
“It’s really important to have a youth perspective because oftentimes when making laws or regulations or events, the teen perspective isn’t taken into account. The teens and the youth are going to be the future of what takes care of Redwood City and our community,” Shaw said.
