CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A St. Anne’s-Belfield 12th-grader’s national award-winning film “Jess” is part of this weekend’s Indie Short Film Festival in Charlottesville, and will be screened again April 3 at the school as part of a parent/guardian enrichment series. 12th-grader Cecilia Yu’s film won first place last month in the D.C. Independent Film Festival’s high school film competition. It’s a short, semi-biographical film that explores the pressures high school students face, and how stressful conditions can lead to mental health challenges… including thoughts of self-harm. Cecilia faced additional stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic when she was forced to stay in China, more than 7,300 miles away from her classmates.

“Jess” has also been accepted in to the LA Sun Film Fest, a popular online film festival. Saturday, March 23, “Jess” will be part of Film Block 4 in the Indie Short Film Festival which happens from noon-to-2pm at the Violet Crown.