Columbia High School filmmaking hosted its annual film festival—the CHS Film & Animation Showcase—earlier this month, screening 12 student films and recognizing two students: one with the first Max Goldstein Creativity Award and the other for winning a Montclair Emerging Artists award for animation, a first for CHS since 2019.
Held in the screening room of the Baird Community Center in South Orange on June 5, the showcase featured captivating and unique short films created by students of the Film 1, Film 2, Animation 1 and Animation 2 classes at CHS. From informative documentaries, comedic mockumentaries and crime dramas to bone-chilling horror movies and an award-winning animation, the showcase was a vibrant look into the creativity and talent of this year’s film students at Columbia.
Film & Animation teacher Paul Marigliano introduced the 2026 Annual Film & Animation Showcase. The screen also provided information about his Summer Film Workshop with the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School.
Before the films were screened, Film and Animation Teacher Paul Marigliano thanked students, parents and community members for the support and raved about his students and their work, speaking highly not only of this year’s films, but of the program as a whole, one he told Village Green wins awards every year but doesn’t always receive the attention it deserves.
“We work, as you can see, pretty hard, and we can get some really nice results,” he said. “We need to get that word out there again.”
Marigliano also introduced a new tradition to the annual Showcase: An award dedicated to 2019 Columbia graduate Max Goldstein, an award-winning filmmaker and photographer who went on to study film at the University of Texas at Austin, but died in 2025 before graduating. While taking filmmaking and animation at CHS, Goldstein’s films won awards at numerous film festivals in New Jersey and Texas.
Marigliano said Goldstein shone not only in his pieces but in his personality—a man both talented and kind. To honor him, the Max Goldstein Creativity Award was introduced to recognize the same traits in other students, with the first winner being senior Oliver Penalber, another creative and talented student who also earned an Achievement in Filmmaking Award at CHS senior recognition night and had photo in the CHS Annual Art Show at the Pierro Gallery.
Oliver Penalber, left, was awarded the Max Goldstein Creativity Award by Film and Animation teacher Paul Marigliano at the 2026 CHS Film & Animation Showcase. (Photo courtesy of Paul Marigliano)
Penalber’s film, The Sweater Story creatively combined live action with animation, which is diffiicult, and something Goldstein also did in 2018 with his film, Colors of the Spirit.
The finale of the Showcase was the animated short, Oh Deer, created by Olive Sandler, Conor Lambert and Kyndall Gray, which was awarded the prestigious Animation–Silver Award at this year’s Montclair Emerging Filmmakers competition on June 6. It was the first CHS animated film to win an award at the competition since 2019. (See story here.)
The audience watches Azucar, directed by Adrian Ortega, about a candy-dealing cartel.
The films, in the order they were screened, at the 2026 Showcase were:
- The Gumfather, directed by Levi Jacobs and Amelia Crep, a parody of The Godfather with a comedic twist: a gum-running mafia.
- The Sweater Story, directed by Oliver Penalber, a live-action/animation that follows a boy who journeys through portals into iconic animated worlds, including The Simpsons and King of the Hill.
- Reel Battle, directed by Lucy D’orazio, which involves a competition between two girls to see who has the better Instagram Reels page.
- The Artist, directed by Miles Artis, which follows a moody, tortured artist and her unscrupulous way of coming up with her final art project.
- Rabbit Hole, directed by Matt Smith and written by Z Hunt, which explores an agonizing time-loop made chilling by the presence of a man in a rabbit mask.
- Refuge, by Vasundara Marlier and Jaciah, which tells the tale of a zombie apocalypse and a lone survivor seeking safety and shelter in Columbia High School.
- Injuries: The Inevitable Setback, a documentary directed by Keira Monagle, that provides insight into the risks of high school sports inuries from interviews with injured and recovered CHS athletes.
- Azucar, directed by Adrian Ortega, a comedy-drama about a dangerous candy-dealing cartel.
- Slapbox, directed by Matt Smith, a parody of Fightclub, a comedic story about the drive for money.
- Found, directed by Keira Monagle, a mockumentary about the neglected “Lost and Found” at Columbia High School.
- Wilbert’s Getback, a character-driven comedy live-action chase film, co-directed by Levi Jacobs and Jay-san Evans.
- Oh Deer, directed by Olive Sandler, an animated short about a deer that takes revenge on a human driver.
The Sweater Story directed by Oliver Penalber combined live action with animation.
The success of Oh Deer and the quality of the films shown at the Showcase support what Marigliano has been saying for the entirety of his 20-year career: “Student filmmakers are extraordinary.”
Despite the success of the program, Marigliano told Village Green he worries about the future of film classes as the budget gets tighter and a lack of resources to maintain a film club means that fewer students will be able to access the opportunities found in his classroom, so he appreciates the support from the community.
To watch the films from this year’s showcase and past CHS films, visit the CHS film class YouTube Channel, Saturday Morning.
Writer Lilah Gottesman is an 11th grade Columbia High School student, who is working with Village Green as a paid freelancer through a grant from the NJ Civic Information Consortium.
A few more pictures from the Showcase:
Film and animation teacher Paul Marigliano (center) with Oliver Penalber and Olive Sandler in front of the screen.
Refuge tells the tale of a zombie apocalypse and a lone survivor seeking shelter in Columbia High School.
The Gumfather, directed by Levi Jacobs and Amelia Crep, a parody of The Godfather with a comedic twist: a gum-running mafia.
Reel Battle, directed by Lucy D’orazio, involves a competition between two girls to see who has the better Instagram Reels page.
