The SUMPTUOUS and SUBLIME 2025 San Antonio 90-Second Newbery Film Festival!
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I’m late posting about it, but we had our San Antonio 90-Second Newbery Film Festival screening back in May! Check out the video of the event above, made by the good folks at the Alamo Film Group, in which I explain the premise of the film festival, we meet the other organizers Christa Aldrich and Laura Cole, and we get to hear from the kids themselves as they talk about their movies! Thanks to my partners at Bexar County Digital Library BiblioTech and H-E-B Read 3 for sponsoring the show and putting it on at the gigantic Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. Our San Antonio show is always our biggest show every year because of my brilliant local partners, and I’m so grateful to them! Thanks also to my co-host, author Claudia Villarreal (author of The Bully Who Learned to Love). She really whooped it up onstage with me, as you can see in the video to the right. (Unfortunately we don’t have a whole video of our opening song, but she really has pipes!) |
The San Antonio screening is different than in other cities because H-E-B awards cash prizes to the best films and the runners-up. We also have special awards for specific categories, like Best Special Effects or Best Cinematography!
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Let’s check out some of those winning movies! First Place for “Best Film From A Middle School or High School” and “Best Storytelling From A Middle School or High School” was won by by Juarez E., Carlos M., Jerusalem C., Menorah C., and Gabriella A. of the Advanced Learning Academy, for an adaptation of Ellen Raskin’s 1979 Medal Winner The Westing Game in the style of The Squid Game:
Juarez and his team have won First Place many times before—he’s a 90-Second Newbery MVP, and you can see why in the movie above! Check out the judges’ commentary here (a sample: “The visual storytelling in this movie was on-point, with slick split-screens of the various contestants, the suitcase full of cash, and more. I appreciated the appropriate background music, and I chuckled at how Sam Westing’s disguise was just a simple fake mustache that somehow fooled everyone”).
There might have been some strong-arming of the judges involved.
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The runners-up for “Best Film From a Middle School or High School” are Jerry Craft’s 2020 Medal Winner New Kid by Harris Middle School (Second Place), Rebecca Stead’s 2010 Medal Winner When You Reach Me by CAST Tech High School (Third Place), and Jason Reynolds’ 2018 Honor Book Long Way Down by Southwest High School Dragon Book Club (Honorable Mention). Click the links to watch the movies, and see what the judges have to say!
There was a tie for first place for “Best Film By An Elementary School.” One of the winners was the Ayele Family’s version of Alice Dalgliesh’s 1953 Honor Book The Bears on Hemlock Mountain (it also won “Best Costume from an Elementary School”):
As the judges said, “There were so many entertaining moments in this movie, like the ‘subtle foreshadowing’ part, the way that the main character sang ‘there are no bears on hemlock mountain’ while walking through a green-screened animated winter wonderland, and even the aunt’s thought balloon ‘She didn’t get attacked by bears??’. . . Fun bloopers too!”
Here is the Bears on Hemlock Mountain group getting their cash prize:
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The other winner of first place for “Best Movie By An Elementary School” is an adaptation of Jack Gantos’ 2012 Medal Winner Dead End in Norvelt by Johnson Ranch Elemenetary School. (It also tied to win “Best Storytelling From An Elementary School”). Here it is:
As the judges said in part in their review (full version here), “A breakneck-paced, cleverly abbreviated, and stylishly made movie . . . I loved watching Spizz get blown up on his tricycle, or getting ‘ghost-busted’ at the end. Fun, nimble, and entertaining!”
Make sure to catch the runners-up for the “Best Movie By An Elementary School,” including an Honorable Mention for Johnson Ranch Elementary School’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
And Third Place went to this very funny silent-movie version of Cece Bell’s 2015 Honor Book El Deafo by the kids of Rolling Meadows Elementary School 5th Grade Gifted & Talented (it also won”Best Cinematography By An Elementary School”):
As the judges said (full review here), “Appropriately for a story about hearing loss, these filmmakers did it in the style of a silent movie! Here, Cece has a fantasy about using her hearing aid to foil some bank robbers—literally becoming a superhero. But when she comes back to reality, the hearing aid’s microphone is actually just with her nurse in the bathroom, and Cece hears some, um, rather less glamorous noises.”
Speaking of funny movies, awards for both “Excellence in Music Video Award” and “Best Sound From An Elementary School” went to Freiheit Elemenetary School’s movie of Robert C. O’Brien’s 1972 Medal Winner Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, done in the style of a cheesy video for Wilson Phillips’ 90s classic “Hold On”:
As the judges said in part (full review here), “I loved the pensive, deep expressions in the faces of the various singers as they stared into the distance in a meaningful way as they sang, as well as their dramatic gestures. The green screen backgrounds were also perfect cheesy karaoke-video-style backdrops.”
Finally, even though this one is a bit long, I must feature this winner for “Excellence in Creative Interpretation,” an adaptation by the Keystone School of Laura Amy Schlitz’s 2008 Newbery Medal Winner Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, done in a modern municipal office:
As the judges said in part (full review here), “Exemplifies what makes for a great 90-Second Newbery: transforming the original story with a bizarre comedic twist . . . it’s all done in the style of The Office or Modern Family or other mockumentaries, with all the trappings of that genre: the fatuous talking-head interviews, the quick cutaways from a scene to a snide or revealing comment from one of the participants, and even the familiar ‘zoom’ into one of the characters as they look directly into the camera, reacting to what’s happening.”
I’d love to feature all the winning movies in this blog post, but there’s not enough room! But do check out these other movies, listed below. There’s a lot of talent in Texas!
Oh and one last thing: the 90-Second Newbery relies on private donations and grants to keep going. It’s through your generosity that we can continue bringing our free public screenings and book-to-movie workshops to libraries and schools nationwide. You can make your (tax-deductible!) donation here. Donations are handled through our fiscal sponsor Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.
Millions of Cats by Cambridge Elementary School & Juniors from Girl Scout Troop 739 (Sara C., Caitlyn K., Emerson “Pi” O., and Ava T.) Excellence in Public Service Awareness
Carver: A Life in Poems by Jack Segal Academy 3rd Graders Excellence in Silent Film
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Southwest ISD (Elias G., Korry H., Tamia M., Divine M., Brandon W., Jazzirae H., Arami G., and Amarika E.) Excellence in Consequential Conversation
Carver: A Life in Poems by Jack Segal Academy, in the style of “Peanuts” Best Adaptation (Elementary School)
Scorpions by CAST Tech High School Best Adaptation (Middle/High School)
New Kid by Harris Middle School Best Sound (Middle/High School)
Wringer by Freiheit Elementary School Best Special Effects (Elementary School)
The Giver by JSTEM Academy (Jakeen, Jacob, Derrick and Peter) Best Special Effects (Middle/High School)
Tie: Charlotte’s Web by McKinney ISD GT and Dead End in Norvelt by Johnson Ranch Elementary School Best Storytelling (Elementary School)
Tuck Everlasting by Advanced Learning Academy Best Costumes (Middle/High School)
When You Reach Me by CAST Tech High School Best Cinematography (Middle/High School)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH from Arlon Seay Elementary School Best Animation (Elementary School)
Ginger Pye by CAST Tech High School Best Animation (Middle/High School)