Sand Springs Student's Film Presented At Festival, Lands Him Scholarship

A Sand Springs senior is getting a $5,000 scholarship for a short film he created. The project was chosen to be presented at a film festival in Oklahoma City.

Samuel Bennett is finishing up his senior year at Charles Page High School. One of his teachers assigned the class to create a short film, but for Bennett, it turned into something bigger than just a grade.

“It is about Santa Clause going into crippling debt and losing his workshop,” said Bennett.

He wore a lot of hats when bringing the film to life, including writing the scripts and editing everything together.

Bennett said he worked on the project with his friends and the group now calls itself “Time Crunch Studios.”

The film first played in front of the school during a talent show. Sam’s film teacher, Michael Ross, encouraged him to do something more with it.

“There’s a whole world of film festivals and contests and things for young filmmakers,” said Ross. “I said you need to really investigate that.”

Sam followed that advice and entered the film in the Oklahoma City University film festival. It was one of only 20 films picked, and Sam took home a hefty scholarship.

Sam is in the process of finishing up his senior year at Charles Page High School. He plans to attend college and pursue a career in film.