Photo Caption: Nicole Romero showcases her award from the Passaic County Film Festival.
PCTI senior, Nicole Romero, has become known as a celebrated filmmaker since her wins at the Passaic County Film Festival. Nicole walked away with five awards, including the grand prize!
This Prospect Park native was just one of 98 submissions considered during the 10th annual film festival. Both high school and college students entered from across the county to compete in categories that included short film, public-service announcement, documentary, and music video. Her grand prize winning work was called, “Traffic”—a music video which depicted a young man who kills another driver due to texting while behind the wheel. The entire story is told through specially written rap lyrics. This video also won best music video and a modified version placed third in the documentary category.
Nicole’s clean sweep across all categories surprised even the judges. They accepted blind submissions and were not privy to students’ names while reviewing projects for the Passaic County Film Festival.
In addition to these stellar wins, Nicole was also recognized for her political advertisement in support of the Federal Dream Act, which would offer residency to children of immigrants who are in the country illegally. This submission took second place in the public service announcement category and drew the distinction of the North Jersey Federal Credit Union, who awarded Nicole and her classmates a $1,000 commission to produce an ad for them.
“Unmasked,” a third film, placed second in the documentary category.
Nicole Romero will go on to study English at Montclair State University in the fall. She has plans of becoming a teacher.
Congratulations to this young lady on all her amazing accomplishments!