Watch "Losing Luke" Award winning documentary about first openly transgender student to graduate a Oklahoma High school

Source Newsday.com: Michael Clark, a freshman with The Film School at Santa Fe University of Art and Design (SFUAD), was recently awarded “Best Documentary” at the inaugural All-American High School Film Festival in New York City, where he also received nominations for Best Director and Best Overall Picture. Clark’s short film Losing Luke is about a transgender girl named Katie (previously known as “Luke”) and her experiences in an Oklahoma high school

Clark’s film was the only full-length student film to screen during the festival’s opening night. Tom Oliva, the festival’s executive director, said organizers wanted to give the 1,500 attendees a taste of the quality of films that would be screened that weekend.

“In the middle of the Bible Belt, many are raised to look down on transgender people,” he said. “With this film, I wanted to help stomp out this ignorance in the community by sharing her story and humanizing her.”



Among thousands of submissions, the top films from each category were sent to a panel of celebrity judges that included Edward Burns, Dylan McDermott, Morgan Spurlock, Diablo Cody, Danny Rose, Kristen Stewart, Carlton Cuse, Henry Winkler and festival founder Andrew Jenks.

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