Movies

A group of 15 aspiring filmmakers representing Dallas in Samsung's Mobile Fresh Films competition found out the big news this week: They're going to Hollywood.

The group won the third annual Samsung competition, which gives teams of teens in nine U.S. cities the chance to compete for a filmmakers' dream prize: a screening at the American Film Institute festival in Los Angeles and critiques from a jury of professional filmmakers.

"It's absolutely indescribable," said Brent Coble, who just turned 20.

The group's members, who are 13 to 20 years old and who hail from local cities and from as far away as Florida, will head to Hollywood in November.

The contestants, chosen from among thousands of applicants, had one week earlier this summer to create their winning film Saturday, a drama about two teenagers who run away from home. During that week the group had to create a storyboard, cast actors and shoot and edit the film.

"The Dallas crew represented very diverse experience levels in terms of filmmaking," said Alana Bardauskis, publicity and marketing manager for Dreaming Tree Films, the producers behind the competition. "They all worked together to collaborate in a powerful and creative way."

Mr. Coble, an aspiring actor from Rockwall who is majoring in film at the University of North Texas, said he is especially proud that Dallas won the competition. "Showing that Dallas can win a nationwide film competition over Los Angeles, New York and Chicago," he said, "speaks leaps and bounds about the opportunities for filmmakers here."

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