Las Positas Community College held their annual film festival on 7 March, 2026. At this festival, students studying film are able to share their work with the rest of the school while being awarded for it. Some categories are eligible for high school students as well and some of Granada’s very own were awarded.
Jack Bielawski (11) directed a short film “Return” with the help of his friends Nick Vigil (11), Jade Prusso (11), Ryder McGurn (11), Jonathan Hernandez (11) and Cole McGinnis (11). The film follows a man trying to return an item to the store he bought it from and he has to go through a series of chaotic events in order to do so.
“The way that we make most of our ideas is we just sit in a circle during lunch and we just yap. We just yap about random things and every once in a while a good idea pops up. It’s a lot of bad ones. This exact idea…I think I’m the one that came up with the premise. I think the main idea was from those super long questionnaires they give you when you’re trying to cancel a subscription. And then it was like, what if this person had to do more and more outlandish things to return something,” said Bielawski on the conception of the short.
The film won three awards: Last Laugh, second place Best Poster, second place Audience Favorite.
“We won last laugh. We weren’t eligible for comedy because you have to be in college to be eligible for the majority of the awards. [The Last Laugh] was a special award. It was just having a last laugh at the ending of the film like a last joke before it ended. The story for that is, I went outside and I sat in front of my house with a hose spraying it at a tree with a camera and a laptop. It’s just a video of that and then I recorded the voice of the main actor and just overlaid them”.
Bielawski expressed how he felt when they won second place Audience Favorite.
“I was the only one there…with audience choice, I was happy with that because I heard people talking about it during intermission. I feel like we might’ve done better if we were shown at the end because the film that won first place was the last film that was shown. It was just more fresh in people’s minds. [Our film] was the only one that I heard people laugh while watching,” said Bielawski.
Bielawski and Prusso shared what their plans after high school are.
“Yeah, I’m probably going to go to film school,” said Bielawski.
“I would be open to it because I do love acting. I’m in the theater program here at school. But, I’m more interested in pursuing music and/or teaching. This is kind of just a fun thing with friends mainly. It would be cool,” said Prusso.
Sarva Kumar (12) and Kyler Wang (11) produced a segment for the GHS El Aviso focusing on the ICE protest in downtown Livermore.
“So the segment is basically the ICE Protest…and we aired it in the El Aviso and then Ms. Janda was like ‘oh there’s this film fest the deadline is today’ and I was in my third period AP Gov and I was frantically editing it so it’s longer and well produced for the film fest and I emailed it to her. It got screened and won an achievement for high school documentary,” said Kumar.
“I didn’t even know that we were going to submit it. I thought it was just mainly going to be for the El Aviso but Ms. Janda just loves to submit all of our segments to competitions such as the County Fair so it fits in line with what she likes to do,” said Wang.
Kumar and Wang won second place in the High School Documentary/Animation category. Kumar praised the film that won first place.
“There was this girl from…I forget which school but it’s in the North Bay. And, she made an amazing documentary about a new judicial policy that allows people who are addicted to substances to get a better life. I think it was really well produced and I’m surprised I tied with her. It was an amazing documentary,” said Kumar.
Kumar was able to attend the event while Wang couldn’t.
“I was [able to attend]. It was great. I love seeing other student’s works. I saw some of the alumni who produced films here at Granada going to Las Positas. It was really nice to see that and yeah, it was a great showcase of work and art here in Livermore,” said Kumar.
“No, I didn’t attend the festival because it was prom that night. So I was in San Jose but I got the information towards the end of the night from one of my friends who was also there who also won an award. He gave me the run down of how it happened,” said Wang.
Wang continued on, “When I found out, I was on the dance floor but I looked down at my phone and I was like no way. I was really excited. I was already in a good mood because it was prom so it made the night a little bit sweeter”.
Kumar and Wang both shared what they want to do after graduating.
“I’m majoring in aerospace engineering but I’m hoping to minor in film and media or take on projects of some kind of activity relating to film so I can continue my passion,” said Kumar.
“I feel like the more I work with something like the El Aviso, the more I become interested in that field of work. Especially because it feels like there’s something I’m passionate about telling stories looking at the perspective of people around the world. I’m not sure if I’d do it as my major but maybe as an undergraduate thing. I definitely think it’s an interesting path that people should try and look at if they don’t know what they want to do,” said Wang.
With the importance of Kumar and Wang’s documentary, Kumar shared a piece of advice to the young aspiring artists at Granada.
“Don’t underestimate your abilities. Especially in art, I feel like a lot of people are overshadowing art. They think that you don’t have a good future or career in art and that’s why they won’t pursue it. But I think you should take that risk. I think I made the mistake of taking that risk over my four years of high school and I think other students should try to pursue their passions rather than just safety,” stated Kumar.
