More success for film students

After gaining international acclaim with their 2016 short film about blind teen Jayke Hopa, Putaruru College’s film students thought they’d used up their winning luck.

But spending three days on a final re-edit of The Jayke Hopa Story, which was a finalist in the 2016 All American High School Film Festival, has seen the students gain two more awards.

Lily Bendy, Sophie Meszaros, Shelly-ann Cochrane, Vianna Loijen, and Isabelle Pearson entered Jayke Hopa- If I Can Do

‘‘Mine and Vianna's faces were just sudden shock’’ Isabelle Pearson.

It into the Making a Difference film awards recently held in Wellington and came away with the Best Secondary Film Award and the Making a Difference Award where they were up against tertiary and open finalists.

Isabelle said the film, which focused on Jayke’s music, winning was unexpected.

‘‘We went down not expecting to win anything and came home with two. Mine and Vianna’s faces were just sudden shock,’’ she said.

‘‘It was really fun and quite surprising that we actually won,’’ Vianna added.

They said it was a fitting send off for Jayke who is now based in Manurewa, Auckland, so he can be closer to Homai School for the vision impaired.

‘‘Jayke was an inspiration to people, so it was not just telling his story, it was showing how he could inspire people,’’ Vianna said.