Molly Crowley, Patrick Dunlap and Jacob Fiedorczyk received an Honorable Mention for their PSA “Grizzly Flame Rap” — in which an actor dressed like Smokey the Bear rapped about fire safety — at the 2025 Hockomock Film Festival. (Photo Courtesy Easton Public Schools)
EASTON — Superintendent Dr. Lisha Cabral and Principal Kelly Cavanaugh are proud to announce that a group of Oliver Ames High School students earned recognition at the 2025 Hockomock Film Festival for their outstanding work in student filmmaking.
“Of course, I’m proud of all my students, but kudos to these individuals in particular,” said Oliver Ames High School Media Production Teacher Stephen Souza Jr. “They consistently work at a high level, always striving to deliver their best. Congrats to all!”
The Hockomock Film Festival, now in its 23rd year, is an annual filmmaking competition open to students ages 14-18 residing or attending school in the towns of the Hockomock Sports League — Attleboro, Canton, Easton, Foxborough, Franklin, Mansfield, Milford, Norfolk, North Attleborough, Plainville, Sharon, Stoughton, Taunton and Wrentham.
Three student-produced films from Oliver Ames were recognized at this year’s festival:
Documentary-3rd Place
- “Inside Look at Tiger Productions” by Braden Denny, Jack Devonshire and Jeremy Weaver
PSA-2nd Place
- “Grizzly Flame Rap PSA” by Molly Crowley, Jacob Fiedorcyzk and Patrick Dunlap
PSA-Honorable Mention
- “Darkness Bound” by Sophia DiBona, Emmanual James Balzano and Colleen Cummings
Easton Community Access Television hosts the event, which features entries in three categories: Public Service Announcements (PSAs), Documentaries, and Short Films.
The students were honored during a ceremony on May 30 at Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, where they received trophies and prizes after a screening of all the winning films.
The 3rd Place documentary, “Inside Look at Tiger Productions,” was made by Braden Denny, Jack Devonshire and Jeremy Weaver.
“They made a video about Tiger Productions, the video club at OA,” said Souza. “They interviewed key members of the club and mixed that with shots of students creating content for the show, Tiger Talk. We will use that video as a promotional video for our club moving forward. They won third place in their category.”
The students took home two awards from the PSA category.
“Grizzly Flame Rap” won a 2nd Place award.
“The public service announcement was about fire safety and prevention,” said Souza. “They had someone on screen for a Smokey the Bear type of character and did a rap giving fire safety tips.”
And “Darkness Bound” won an Honorable Mention.
“‘Darkness Bound’ is a short film about a high school student having trouble sleeping because of the pressure of going to college,” said Souza.
The films were created as part of a capstone class where third-year media students spend two terms working on a short film.
“This project is unlike anything they had done prior, because they go into great detail during the entire process,” said Souza. “Everything from idea to presentation is thought about meticulously and planned. From storyboard creation to script, writing revision to casting, the editing process to re-shoots and screening, they follow the same formula that you would use on a feature film.”
Each year, Superintendent Dr. Cabral looks forward to seeing Oliver Ames High School’s festival entries.
“I have been so incredibly impressed by them in the past,” said Dr. Cabral. “Thank you Mr. Souza, for all you do to foster this amazing creativity.”
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Oliver Ames students work on one of their submissions to the 2025 Hockomock Film Festival. For this scene, students recorded as Mia Jones filmed a segment for “Tiger Talk” (the OAHS weekly show), as featured in the documentary “Inside Look at Tiger Productions.” (Photo Courtesy Easton Public Schools)
“Darkness Bound,” a PSA, won an Honorable Mention at the 2025 Hockomock Film Festival. (Photo Courtesy Easton Public Schools)
Molly Crowley, Patrick Dunlap and Jacob Fiedorczyk accepted an Honorable Mention for their PSA “Grizzly Flame Rap” at the 2025 Hockomock Film Festival. (Photo Courtesy Easton Public Schools)
Oliver Ames High School students Braden Denny, Jack Devonshire and Jeremy Weaver won a 3rd Place award for their Documentary “Inside Look at Tiger Productions” at the 2025 Hockomock Film Festival. (Photo Courtesy Easton Public Schools)
Oliver Ames High School Media Production Teacher Stephen Souza Jr. accepted an award for student filmmakers Sophia DiBona, Emmanual James Balzano and Colleen Cummings for their PSA “Darkness Bound.” (Photo Courtesy Easton Public Schools)
Oliver Ames High School students won several awards at this year’s 2025 Hockomock Film Festival. (Photo Courtesy Easton Public Schools)
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