By Lesley Whitaker

High school students from Southern California have submitted more than 70 films to the Harvard Westlake Film Festival, which will be held April 18 at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. Max Grey ’08 and Drew Foster ’08 are working with video art teacher Cheri Gaulke and film teacher Ted Walch to organize the festival.

Foster and Grey are still in the process of screening the films, which must be under 10 minutes and made by a high school student. Paul Thomas Anderson, Oscar nominee and director of such films as “There Will Be Blood” and “Magnolia,” will speak at the event, but the focus will remain on the short films. Anderson will stay throughout the event and talk to students at the end. In previous years, the film festivals have all taken place at Harvard Westlake. Jason Reitman ’95, director of recent films “Juno” and “Thank You For Smoking,” spoke at last year’s which festival showed 14 movies.

“It’s great that this year’s festival is at the Arclight Cinemas,” Grey says, “it makes a big difference for the students to have their work shown in a movie theater rather than in a high school auditorium.”