LFHS Siblings Make UIL State Film Festival Finals

Story and photos by Ronnie Zamora/LFCISD

Los Fresnos High School siblings Sal and Bella Vargas both received medals in the UIL Film Festival, which presented its awards Wednesday at the Paramount Theater in Austin.

LFHS was the only school in the Class 6A division to receive two awards.

Sal Vargas
Sal Vargas placed second for a silver medal in the Traditional Animation category for his production “Up in the Air” entry.

He also had an entry in the Cross Country documentary division, which made it to the semifinals.

“It took about 2-3 weeks by making the characters and animating and editing.” said Sal, who used the software Final Cut Pro 10. “Working frame by frame was very easy. I could group the photos. We used a lot of green-screening.

Clay was used for many the characters.

“Up in the Air” is Sal’s first animation film that he can add to his résumé. He has produced about 8-10 film projects, and wants to produce another short film before the end of the school year.

Senior classmate Michael Garcia was co-producer with Sal on the project. Three other students assisted with animation, photography and production design.

He plans to attend The University of Texas and major in film production.”I’m excited that I can call myself an animator now.”

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Bella Vargas
Bella Vargas, a junior, finished in third place for a bronze medal in the Narrative category with her entry “Letters.” Entries in the Narrative category are limited to seven minutes.

While her older brother is more into the film-making aspect of the industry, Bella’s passion is writing.

“I’ve always loved writing and love stories have been my favorite topic,” Bella said. “I wanted there to be a unique way of writing in the story. My character Iris is writing to her boyfriend in the past.”

Letters is a story about love in the present and future. For Luis, writing was his escape from reality.

Bella played the lead character Iris, who had a boyfriend named Luis. Iris passed away at age 18, “Iris wants to continue to talk to him and be close to him. I was listening to music and writing and came up with this idea.” After her death, Luis continued to write letters to her.

Three students starred with Bella in the film, and six teachers and one parent also participated. The youngest sister in the Vargas family Melody, a sixth grader at Resaca Middle School, was also cast. The crew included eight students including Bella and her brother Sal.

“When I asked my teachers to work with me, they were excited,” Bella said. “They listened to what I had to say, and were very cooperative with my ideas of what I wanted.”