Yellowknife (May 20/05) - Media studies teacher Arnold Krause had a long night ahead of him, faced with the difficult task of fitting 30 student films into the hour and a half allotted for Wednesday night's Sir John Franklin high school film festival at the Capitol Theatre.

More than 100 students in Grades 9-12 worked on the films during lunch hours and after school, Krause said.

Some Grade 9 students were able to make their film for class credit, but most did the work for fun, he said.

For some students, this was their first time filming, he noted, while others live and breathe film.

Morgan Barrett is a graduating student who has already won competitions for her films but she didn't enter this year's film festival.

On June 3, Morgan and her partner Miranda Booth will travel to Edmonton for the National Skills Canada competitions.

They will have two days to complete a 4-6 minute video on a theme they will be given when they arrive.

"I didn't want to do a film for school because I am a perfectionist and wouldn't have the time to put into it," Morgan said.

Instead, she worked with Sabrina Krivan to produce the introduction for the film festival, as well as short clips introducing each film category.

All of the ticket money from the festival will go towards a scholarship for students planning to go on to film school.

And many students do go into some aspect of the film industry, Krause said.

Dan Milligan, Tim Robertson and Aiden Cartwright are all away at film school, but returned to make a film for this year's festival.

"They are good inspiration for students making their first films," Krause said.

The school has 42 computers with video-editing capacity, but with more than 230 students going through the media studies program each year, Krause said students often have to wait in line.

"There are always things that would be nice to have, but when I talk with colleagues in the south, they are shocked by how much material we have," he said. "We really aren't lacking in equipment."

Krause credits the generosity of the community and media outlets such as the CBC and Native Communications Society, as well as the school board, for the equipment they do have.