A group of seven Mount Pleasant High School seniors made school history again on Friday, February 7 when they learned their film was among the UIL State finalists in the 5A Narrative category. The group entered three films in the UIL Film competition and two of their works advanced to the group of 20 semifinalists. The field was narrowed to just 6 finalists and their first film in the series, Dawn of the Night Chapter One-The Duel at Dawn, was chosen among those six. The team will receive UIL State medals and will learn of their placement at the UIL Film Festival.

Dawn of the Night Chapter One-The Duel at Dawn is a spaghetti western style story filmed, in part, at Two Senoritas in Mount Pleasant. It was written and directed by Samuel Chappell with the story by Chappell and Frankie Rodriguez. The MPHS UIL Film team includes seniors Samuel Chappell, Judson Colley, David Cumpian, Tanner Marshall, Jesus Moreno, Frankie Rodriguez, and Christopher Sorto with advisor, Gina Crouch. The films featured “extras” Evan Cota, Eli Hernandez, Amir Martinez, Alejandro Nino, Cristian Perez Fernando, and Luke Thurman.

A free screening of all three films is scheduled for Thursday, February 13, in the MPHS Auditorium at 6:30 p.m. The 5A and 6A UIL State Film Festival will be held on Thursday, February 27 at Hogg Auditorium on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.