On Friday, August 25 just as the sun sets over Great Neck, the big screen at The Village Green park will light up with an exciting and eclectic mix of films created by local teens. Levels at the Great Neck Library and the Great Neck Park District will present the first-ever Levels Film Festival on The Village Green located on Middle Neck Rd. The festival will begin at sundown (approximately 8 p.m.). All films are created by Great Neck teens and have content equivalent to PG/PG-13 ratings, making them suitable for young adult audiences. Admission to the film festival is free and open to the public.

In keeping with Levels' mission to provide teens with the opportunity to envision, initiate and create projects, the idea for a festival of original films came from the students themselves. At the beginning of each year, Levels invites all interested teens to a meeting where teenagers propose and decide what major projects Levels will undertake throughout the course of the year. This year, in addition to the student theatre productions and concerts for which Levels is so well-known, teens voted to produce an outdoor music and art festival (July's Levelspalooza), a CD of original music (due this December), and a festival of original student films. These films would either be entered by teens as independent projects, or filmed and edited at the Great Neck Library using Levels' own cameras and equipment and under the guidance of Levels' staff of professional artists. Excited at this new forum in which to express themselves, teens immediately began writing, casting and filming, and the project was underway.

The Great Neck Park District was a logical co-producer for the festival. The park district shares with Levels the goal of serving both teens and the public in general, and also provides a natural venue through its series of outdoor movies on The Village Green. In order to reach the broadest possible spectrum of teens and other Great Neck residents, both organizations agreed that the film festival would play on the Village Green's big screen on the evening of August 25.

Like all Levels projects, the Levels Film Festival brings together students of all ability levels, from seventh grade through college age, representing every secondary school in Great Neck. From the youngest novice filmmaker (thirteen) to the most seasoned college student, Levels' unique structure allows teens to collaborate on projects, while simultaneously developing informal mentor/mentee relationships.

Come with your folding chairs or blankets and be prepared for a thrilling evening.

Forever, directed by Ava Szilagi, follows the quirky teenage romance between budding musician Donna (Jessica Schildkraut) and would-be filmmaker Tye (Paul Ryder). Unlike many teen love stories, Forever doesn't romanticize or exaggerate, but simply tells the story of a year in the lives of two creative young people and what they gave (and couldn't give) to each other. Szilagi conceived the film's story and allowed her cast to improvise dialogue for a naturalistic feel. She is also responsible for the film's unusual style of editing, along with her co-editor Lior Shahverdi. The supporting cast includes Jenna Hopp, Eitan Prouser, Leila Manion and Jessica Sussman. The soundtrack features original songs by local musician (and Levels veteran) Joe Sidney.

Denysson Arboleda's Mirror 2: Lost and Found is a follow-up to a previous Levels filmmaking project, Andrew Blum's 2004 film Mirror. The film is a deconstruction of the traditional horror movie, taking the bizarre story of a haunted, murderous sweatshirt and turning it into a half-film, half-literature hybrid. Arboleda also wrote and edited the film himself. Featured in the cast are Shayna Leah Hodkin, Robert DiGiovanni, Fred Cohen, Krissi Lum, Jessica Sussman, Aline Kovacs and Jayson Abrams, plus a special appearance by the original Mirror's lead actress Romy Valentina.

The Missing Piece is a collaboration between puppetry student Leila Manion and professional puppeteer Barry Weil (who is also Levels' assistant director). This visually arresting film is an adaptation of two Shel Silverstein stories about incomplete circles looking for the missing piece that will make them whole. To create the film, Manion and Weil developed an innovative video puppetry technique that allows them to simulate real-time, moving line drawings. It's an interesting example of how Levels gives teens the opportunity to work directly with professionals in the arts who will treat them as equals.

Fred Cohen directs and stars in The Chicken Music Video. Disguised in a full-body chicken suit of his own creation, Cohen dances his way through a series of visual poultry puns, all set to an original rap song created and performed by Cohen himself, along with students Seth Rosen and Crystal Estey and Levels' music coordinator Kris Bauman. Cohen also created original Flash animation for the film on Levels' computers, and catered the film via a trip to KFC.

The Making of "Aida," (tentative title) by documentarian Danielle Garcia, takes the viewer behind the scenes of a student-run Levels musical, from pre-production through casting, rehearsals and performances. It's a unique insight into the sometimes chaotic, sometimes exhilarating process of putting together a theatre production when students are learning their craft and running the show at the same time.

Levels is also proud to include Andrew Blum's Colorblind, direct from the Boston International Film Festival. Blum directed and acted in several films and plays at Levels, and has now moved into the professional world of documentary filmmaking (while still in his teens) with this film about the modern legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Set to the music of jazz legend Wynton Marsalis, Colorblind explores the slain civil-rights leader's place in history through interviews with urban, suburban and rural high school students, and experts including Rep. Charles Rangel and Holocaust survivor Martin Mermelstein. Blum's film offers a multigenerational, multicultural perspective on one of society's most pressing problems.