Juniors Aiden Glikmann and Ben Fuller were invited to the International Film Festival in New York as nominees in the comedy category for their short film “The Stall.”

“The Stall” was made two years ago in Oak Park High School’s theater class, taught by drama teacher Allan Hunt. Fuller and Glikmann had both been wanting to make a film together and seized this opportunity to mimic “The Godfather.”

“‘The Stall” is somewhat of a parody of “The Godfather.” It’s about a kid who starts a mob business from the bathroom stall at school and another kid who tries to hunt him down,” Fuller said.

Junior Dylan Rodgers, who played the bodyguard in “The Stall,” said that he took his role very seriously. He wore a formal black suit and pierced his ear for the part.

“I found this key ring that looked just like a gold earring and I was like ‘I bet I could get this through my earlobe,’” Rodgers said. “I said, ‘Ben hold my hand and Aiden push it through,’ and teamwork made the dream work.”

Their short film was originally entered into the Oak Park Film Festival, an award show curated for Hunt’s lm classes, in spring 2016; judges from the movie industry awarded the short film with “Best Film.”

“I was really proud of ourselves and all the actors and everybody that helped us,” Fuller said. “It felt very validating to earn that after all that hard work.”

Glikmann later submitted their lm to the International Film Festival in August 2017. “The Stall” was placed in the top 70 films out of about 2,000 that applied.

“My dad and I [sent in the application] and forgot about it until we got an email back a couple of months later,” Glikmann said. “I was in the middle of ‘Breaking Bad’ and I was like ‘Who’s emailing me?’ I thought [their reply] would just say ‘Thanks for your submission, but you weren’t selected,’ but we got a different response, which was cool.”

However, Glikmann had initially forgotten to tell Fuller that he submitted their film to the festival in the rst place.

“Well I was actually in Hawaii when we found out. Aiden called me and I was just in shock,” Fuller said. “At first, I thought it was a joke. I was really proud. I felt in awe.”

After flying to New York for the International Film Festival Oct. 6, Glikmann and Fuller participated in workshops, screenings, college fairs, parties and award shows. At the festival, judges made a cut of 10 films from the previous 70 for nal judging; “The Stall” did not make the cut but according to Glikkman and Fuller, they had fun regardless.

“It was fun just to immerse yourself in that field for three whole days,” Glikmann said. “We learned so many new ways to do things and we met so many cool people. The doors have just been opened up to so many more opportunities.”

Hunt said that Glikmann and Fuller showed their passion and artistry when it came to the film.

“When kids show this kind of an aptitude, I like to just encourage it,” Hunt said. “The boys are very motivated and they’re consummate film makers. They could really do this in the outer world and it was really fun to watch them in that way.”

Hunt explained how he imagined “The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola might react towards seeing this film.

“I think Francis Ford Coppola would be very amused and pleased to see this [film]. Imitation is the greatest form of art,” Hunt said. “Hopefully someday, some people will imitate [Glikman and Fuller] if they go on to do this[as a career.]”