Dozens of student filmmakers from Portsmouth High School and Salve Regina University will screen their short films at the Aquidneck Island Student Film Festival on Monday, April 23 at Jane Pickens Theater, 49 Touro St.

Free and open to the public, the juried festival will feature about 10 films that will be screened in two categories: Original Short and Documentary. Student producers will be vying for $250 prizes for first place in each category. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and films will begin screening promptly at 7:30 p.m. following a reception.

“The Aquidneck Island Student Film Festival is dedicated to supporting the emerging voices in film by providing the young student filmmakers of Rhode Island an opportunity to showcase their work,” said Gary Vaspol, an English teacher and film/digital production coordinator at Portsmouth High School who is also an adjunct professor at Salve Regina.

Students participating on Monday are representing Salve Regina’s film studies program, the Salve Studios Student Film Production Club and the Portsmouth High School Academy of Media Communications and Digital Video Production.

In addition to screening their work at this inaugural festival, participating students will present a collaborative film project that showcases their respective production programs.

Ryan Belmore is the owner and publisher of What's Up Newp. He took over the publication in 2012 and has grown it into a three-time Rhode Island Monthly Best Local News Blog (2018, 2019, 2020). He was named LION Publishers Member of the Year in 2020 and received the Dominique Award from the Arts & Cultural Society of Newport County the same year. He has been awarded grants for investigative and community journalism, and continues to coach and mentor new local news publications nationwide. Ryan...