Felix Hass, Greenbelt resident and 10th grader at Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS), won the Best Micro Short Film award from the Taiwan International Short Film Festival in October 2021. Hass has been attending the Greenbelt Access Television (GATe) animation classes for approximately four years and with the help of his teacher, George Kochell, Hass produced his award-winning short film, Squirrel Hacker.
Hass said that Kochell, known to everyone as Mr. Geo, is a wonderful mentor. “Not only does [Mr. Geo] understand the software, but he genuinely loves both animating and teaching.” Hass’s film was entered into the film festival’s contest on his behalf by Mr. Geo. According to Hass, Mr. Geo “really likes entering his students’ films into contests and he always manages to find some who will accept them.”
Hass, who is interested in computers and open-source software and is part of the robotics program at ERHS, was inspired to make this film by watching the squirrels in his backyard. The short, animated film is about a squirrel who, from a control room, sends a drone strike to a bird feeder to gain access to the seeds inside. Hass explained, “Squirrels stop at nothing to get into a bird feeder or to get any kind of food for that matter.”
These short, animated films have broad appeal, Hass told the News Review. They have no words or text, so they can cross language and cultural barriers. The film, which lasts approximately one minute, was produced during the fall/winter GATe class taught by Mr. Geo in 2018-19. The film can be viewed by going to YouTube and typing in Greenbelt Access Television Squirrel Hacker. Hass not only produced the film but performed the background music as well.