Mrs. Martinez has announced that AV Production students John-Trajan Bernardo and Sinjin-Kai Bernardo won the grand prize in the Comedy category at Montclair Film’s the Emerging Filmmaker Competition.
The Bernardo brothers’ short film, “The Voice of Reason,” is a unique compilation of much of their film work that they have done over the last year.
Trajan, a senior, and Kai, a sophomore, have been working together throughout the pandemic to create a variety of films. Together, they have combated this unprecedented year of isolation with an outburst of creativity.
The Bernardo brothers summarize their video: “In the film and in real life, we first struggled to come up with an original story on COVID life, which, of course, was the major theme to this year’s Montclair Film competition. That is until we decided on 2 things. First, forget trying to make a fictional story. Just show our real lives. Second, we decided to make it a comedy. Of course, we weren’t trying to make light of the health and racial crises of the day. What we were trying to show is that even in the worst of times, the best way to appreciate your life is to find ways to smile and laugh.”
Trajan and Kai would like to thank their AV Production teacher, Mrs. Martinez, for teaching them the skills and for honing their techniques through so many great projects. They’d also like to thank County Prep as a whole. They are so privileged and humbled to represent this school and would never want to attend anywhere else.
Finally, as Trajan said during filming, don’t forget that “It's not just The Voice of Reason that guides you, it's The Voice of Your Heart too."