A Sold-Out Theater, 77 Filmmakers, and One Unforgettable Night: The 2nd Annual Monarch Film Festival

On April 1, the marquee outside The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana read one word that says everything: SOLD OUT. Inside, 77 student filmmakers from Mater Dei High School watched their work hit a real theater screen in front of 200+ people. That's the Second Annual Monarch Film Festival — and it was a leap forward from where it started.

Last year's inaugural festival lived on campus. This year it moved into a working movie theater, doubled down on craft, and turned ten student films into a genuine premiere. Filmustage was proud to be part of it again — this time backing two Best Screenwriting awards.

From a Classroom to a Sold-Out House

The biggest change this year was the room itself. The festival left campus for the first time and premiered at The Frida Cinema, Santa Ana's nonprofit arthouse theater. Student films ran on a real cinema screen, the house sold out, and the marquee outside carried the festival's name to the street.

That shift matters more than it sounds. There's a difference between showing your film in a classroom and watching an audience of strangers react to it in the dark. It's the moment a school project becomes a premiere — and it's exactly the kind of experience the festival was built to give.

Two Divisions, Ten Films, Seventy-Seven Filmmakers

Seventy-seven students across four classes — Filmmaking I, Filmmaking II, Honors Filmmaking III, and Honors Filmmaking IV — built the program from the ground up. This year the festival split into two divisions so younger and more advanced filmmakers each had a stage that fit them.

The Lower Level division (Filmmaking I and II) produced tight films running 90 seconds to 3 minutes — funny, emotional, and surprisingly ambitious for early-stage filmmakers. The Honors division is where the format got bold.

Six Crews and a Pitch for Screen Time

Here's the standout idea behind this year's Honors slate. Last year, Honors students worked in two large production teams. This year they wanted to break it open — and two teams became six separate production crews, each with its own project, style, and creative identity.

Six Honors films created a real problem: runtime. So, as the crews developed their projects, the program added something genuinely industry-minded — each crew had to build a professional pitch deck and formally pitch for its screen time. Based on those presentations, teams were awarded anywhere from 9 to 18 minutes of runtime.

That single mechanic forced students to think like real filmmakers — not just "is my story good," but how to pace it, structure it, and earn the screen time to tell it. Pitching, planning, and defending your runtime is pre-production discipline, and it's the same muscle every professional production runs on long before a camera rolls. It's exactly the part of filmmaking our breakdown and scheduling tools are built to support.

The Awards — and the Sponsors Behind Them

The night's biggest winner was The Wake We Leave, directed by Diego Villa — it took Best Picture, plus Best Cinematography, Best Performance (Matthew Delaney), and the Filmustage-sponsored Best Screenplay (Joaquin Paez). Close behind, THORNS made Matteo Dawson the most-decorated filmmaker of the night, sweeping Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography. Across the Lower Level and Honors divisions, students were honored in five craft categories — Directing, Screenplay, Performance, Editing, and Cinematography — plus Best Picture.

One filmmaker turned up on that stage more than anyone else. Matteo Dawson won Best Cinematography at last year's inaugural festival — and came back this year to take Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography for THORNS. That kind of year-over-year jump, from one craft award to a near-sweep, is exactly what a program like this is built to produce.

Filmustage's role this year grew with the festival. We were proud to sponsor the festival's Best Screenplay award — and in the Honors division, that honor went to Joaquin Paez for The Wake We Leave, the same film that walked away with Best Picture. The award comes with access to professional pre-production software to carry the next script from page to screen. It builds on last year, when Filmustage presented the inaugural Best Screenplay to senior Ty Bragalone.

None of it happens alone. Presented by LUMIX, the festival drew a wall of industry partners — ShotDeck, Tilta, Elgato, Sigma, Roberts Camera, PhotoVideoEDU, the New York Film Academy, and Slamdance among them — that helped make the night feel like the real thing. Which is exactly the point.

Watch the Full Festival

Couldn't make it to The Frida? The entire premiere — all ten films and the full awards ceremony — is up on Vimeo. Press play and watch a school program turn into a real night at the movies.

A Partnership Built Over Two Festivals

The festival is the work of Andrew Roberts, Director of Film and Media at Mater Dei and a Filmustage Ambassador with more than 30 years in entertainment and nearly two decades in education, alongside his colleague Kenny Connolly. What started as an idea to give students a real premiere has, in two years, become a sold-out event with six crews, professional pitches, and a wall of industry sponsors.

When the partnership began, Roberts framed exactly why he brings tools like Filmustage into the classroom:

That's the thread connecting both years. Filmustage exists to make the planning side of filmmaking faster and less painful, so storytellers can spend more time on the story. Seeing students learn that discipline early — and get celebrated for it — is the reason we keep showing up.

The Bottom Line

Seventy-seven students. Ten films. Two hundred-plus sold-out seats. One night that turned a school program into a premiere. The Second Annual Monarch Film Festival raised the bar on everything the first one started, and we're honored to have been part of it.

To every student who wrote, shot, cut, and pitched their way onto that screen: you made something out of nothing, and an entire theater showed up to watch. That's filmmaking.

FAQ

What is the Monarch Film Festival?

The Monarch Film Festival is an annual student film showcase at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. Founded by Andrew Roberts and Kenny Connolly, it gives student filmmakers a real premiere experience, complete with a red carpet, awards, and industry sponsors. The second annual festival was held April 1 at The Frida Cinema.

How many students and films were part of the 2026 festival?

Seventy-seven students across four filmmaking classes created ten original films, screened across two divisions: Lower Level (Filmmaking I and II) and Honors (Filmmaking III and IV).

What was new at the second annual festival?

Three things: the festival moved off campus to The Frida Cinema for the first time, the Honors division expanded from two teams to six production crews, and each crew pitched for its runtime — earning 9 to 18 minutes of screen time based on a professional pitch deck.

How is Filmustage involved with the festival?

Filmustage is a festival sponsor, and Andrew Roberts is a Filmustage Ambassador. This year Filmustage sponsored the Best Screenplay award; in the Honors division it went to Joaquin Paez for The Wake We Leave, which also won Best Picture.