Providence High senior’s ‘Vision’ will screen at White House Student Film Festival

A Providence High School senior is using his animation skills to share his thoughts about this year’s current events and issues as well as what people should do to make the world a better place.

Isaiah Ferguson, 17, was recently selected to have his three-minute animated film, “A Vision,” screened during the third annual White House Student Film Festival at the White House next month.

Though it is Ferguson’s first time having his film screened at the White House, he has had two of his animated works earn honorable mentions at the film festival in 2015 and 2014.

“The film talks about almost everything that went wrong this year and everything we can do to try and prevent them from happening again,” he said. “It goes into detail about how we can prevent these atrocities.”

To coincide with this year’s theme, “The World I Want to Live In,” Ferguson addresses in his animated short many topics including gun control, the mass murders that have occurred stateside and overseas, racism in the United States and the Black Lives Matter movement, discrimination toward the LGBT community, the statute of limitations on sexual assaults, immigration reform and global warming.

“All of these atrocities and more can be prevented if the young of today become the conscientious leaders and innovators of tomorrow,” Ferguson said in his film. “I’m hopeful that my generation can achieve our collective dream of creating and sustaining a world in which we want to live, so that we may leave this world a better place for future generations.”

Ferguson, who has been dabbling in animation since he was 10 years old, said that he wanted to focus on these topics because he believes they are the most important issues that everyone should be paying attention to and working to solve.

“A lot of events, like the Orlando attack and other stuff, have created a split in the country, and we need to fix that,” he said. “It’s really important that we address these issues, especially now.”

Franklin Ferguson, Isaiah Ferguson’s father, said he is proud of his son’s accomplishment, which he believes is a “testament to the support he’s received at [Providence High School] and at home.”

He added: “When you’re around him, you see that he’s very committed to his art, his class and his talent. It’s very gratifying that the White House would have the time to put on the [film festival] and recognizing Isaiah. We feel very fortunate and blessed.”

--

Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio