Teens star at Earth Day Film Festival

Today's San Jose Mercury News: Films go green.

Admit that the word educational makes you cringe and you'll understand why the Greenlight Earth Day Film Festival is happening tonight. When it comes to getting a message across, the old saw is right: a picture is worth a thousand words.

In the hands of talented student filmmakers, this Palo Alto festival's program is a lot of fun, too.

From ``Bin There?'' to ``A Can's Life,'' the 46 entries go for the quick hit. Only four of the films are longer than 20 minutes and most fall into the less than five minutes time frame.

With most of the filmmakers still in their teens, the whole event may accomplish the intent of its organizers -- to reach an audience of young people who normally don't pay attention to Earth Day events.

``We've done festivals before,'' said committee member Kim Brown, who brainstormed new ideas with a consortium of local environmental agencies and media non-profits. ``What better way to have them tell us what they think about the environment?''

The entries came mostly from students in middle and high school, with one category for adults. The festival winners will be sharing $5,000 in prizes -- with recycled trophies donated by Palo Alto city employees.

The filmmakers took advantage of the most modern equipment and let their creativity roll. ...

Here are six QuickTime movies of festival entries.