• Photo by Jennifer Savage
• Humboldt Film Commissioner Cassandra Hesseltine, PAH-fest Co-Director Lasha Zambakhidze and Tech AD Bailey Coppola

People! We are in the midst of a film festival competition right here in Humboldt! Did you know this? Co-Director Lasha Zambakhidze and Tech AD Bailey Coppola have been touring around town, alerting students and potential participants about PAH-Fest, a one-week film festival taking place in San Francisco, Oakland, Marin and our collective backyard. 

Students, high school and college, have contests geared specifically to them.

Non-enrolled filmmakers, accomplished and aspiring, see your creative options below.

(Note: The Ink People Center for the Arts is your Humboldt hub and editing station.) 

Create a two-minute HD video portrait of yourself or another person. You can B.Y.O.G. (Bring Your Own Gear) or PAH-FEST will supply you with HD pocket camcorders and a complete editing system for you to edit and finish your piece. Everyone is welcome to show up at PAH-FEST and create a Digiportrait. Your submission will be featured in the PAH NATION theater to be rated by the online public, and a cash prize is awarded to the winning piece! This contest is open to California residents only.

The Tone Poem is a poetic dance between music and film based on a specific theme. The music and the film cannot exist before hand. Everything is created during the festival. One need not be a professional musician. Music can be many things including simple humming or drumming. You can B.Y.O.G (Bring Your Own Gear) or use a PAH HD pocket camcorder and PAH editing station to cut and finish your 2 minute Tone Poem. This contest is open to California residents only.

Use a video-enabled cellphone or your personal camcorder to film an all in camera, continuous 60-second or less shot with no editing or pausing on the specific assigned theme of "Something Sacred." Upload your work to the PAH website.

Children 12 and under are invited to "participate in a visual treasure hunt and win a prize" in the Humboldt Circus Vision Contest. Using a pocket camcorder, children will meet at a specific location to interpret and shoot these seven universal circus symbols: Rings, Colors, Funny, Flying, Balance, Animals and Opposites. Full details here.

Zambakhidze anticipates submissions from Eureka High School, the Arcata Arts Institute and College of the Redwoods, but the public field is wide open, he said.

Students, of course, are also welcome to participate in the public portion of the contest. All entries will be screened online with the awards ceremony taking place on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 5 p.m. at the San Francisco Art Institute and streaming live on the website and at the Eureka High School auditorium.

If this is your first alert to PAH-fest, its various contests and cash prizes, you're welcome – now hop to it! The clock is ticking. 

Bonus question: If you could turn the entire world one color, what color would it be?