Eli Feigner made history for River HomeLink when he won the best cinematography award for his film “Clairvoyant” at one of the biggest youth film festivals in the country.
Along with the award, Feigner was also nominated in the best film and best direction categories at the All American High School Film Festival in New York, which took place from Oct. 21 to Oct. 23.
“It’s a really big deal,” Feigner said. “I’ve been kind of doing this since I was 12, and submitting to the festival was the first time I’ve ever submitted any of my work to anything last year, so coming back for my second year and winning something that big is a really big deal for me.”
Clairvoyant was inspired by Feigner’s journey after he left high school.
“To me, it’s a story about turning 18 and not really knowing exactly what I’m doing yet, but just like everything that comes with that first year after graduation and everything. It’s kind of me processing all of that,” he said.
Feigner spent eight months writing the film and then spent two weekends shooting it at Pomeroy Farm.
“I edited it over three months and it was just a lot of work,” he said. “A lot of just spending hours in front of a computer or planning every single shot and talking with actors and stuff.”
Feigner’s girlfriend, Makenzie Slechta, was the lead actress in the film. His brother, Dylan, who Feigner described as “one of the most talented people I know,” was the audio engineer who crafted the film’s soundtrack and score. Other friends from the school contributed to the project as well.
Feigner noted he began dating Slechta when he started writing the film. It was her first time acting on screen.
“It was a learning process that we kind of went through together, but I think it all came out really well,” Feigner said. “Her parents played her parents in a scene. Her sister played a character. The whole thing was kind of a tight-knit group of people that I know. I was the only person that had ever worked on a film before, so it was just a lot of new people who were excited about the process.”
Feigner said the other crew members had never worked on a film production but were incredible and helpful throughout the process.
Feigner was able to attend the film festival in person.
“The festival in New York is one of the most important things I’ve ever done as a young artist,” he said. “It’s the biggest high school festival, I think, in the world, and the amount of talented people that you get to meet and the amount of perspectives and artistic approaches, and even the artists that you meet, it’s a very creatively-dense and surreal space.”
At the festival, Feigner watched about 50 short films from filmmakers around the world. He also made friends with people from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and elsewhere.
Feigner plans to make new projects in the future. He is currently working on a script based around the poem “Home Burial” by Robert Frost. He has worked on it since he was in seventh grade and now feels he’s at a point where he can turn the film into reality.
Clairvoyant can be viewed online at youtube.com/watch?v=5z CYMbglggc.
