JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local Duval County student directed a short film that was selected to be screened in the New York City’s AMC Theater in Times Square.
Addison Gomez’s film “Mona Lisa” was chosen by the 2023 All American High School Film Festival.
Gomez is a junior at Samuel Wolfson School of Advanced Studies in Jacksonville, studying filmmaking and theater production.
Her 3-minute short film casts her twin sister as a shy teen who slowly gains confidence and develops her own Mona Lisa smile.
“Putting that whole thing together with my friends was just really fun, because they also felt that same insecurity of high school, if you can relate,” Gomez says. “It’s just trying to figure yourself out before you gotta go into the real world and be an adult.”
Gomez won a one-thousand dollar prize for vlogging about her time in New York City during the film festival and she received the Duval County Superintendent’s Coin of Excellence, given to one student each month who exhibits an outstanding achievement
“If you have the passion and you have the love for doing film and art and stuff like that, then you need to reach out to others,” Gomez says. " I would just say put yourself out there.”
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