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Lennon awarded for animated short at youth film festival

Hopkinton resident Ellis Lennon took home Best Student-Made Animation at the Boston International Kids Film Festival last November. PHOTO/COURTESY TMLPR

Hopkinton resident Ellis Lennon got a lot out of the experience of creating her award-winning stop-motion short film.

“[Stop-motion] was a great medium for me,” she said. “I learned a lot from it.”

Lennon, a senior at the New England Innovation Academy (NEIA) in Marlborough, created the short animated film “Fractured Grace” as part of her coursework. It won Best Student-Made Animation at the Boston International Kids Film Festival (BIKFF) in November, and also earned Lennon a Silver Key Regional Award in the 2025-26 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

The film, Lennon explained, centers on a young girl who is obsessed with becoming a ballet dancer and uses her music box over and over. “She overworks herself dancing and the music box ends up haunting her, in a way,” she said.

Lennon created the short film as part of NEIA’s Passion Dive program. The semester-long program operates as an independent study where students can focus on a project or subject they are passionate about studying. Students pick teachers to act as mentors as they work their way through the self-directed course.

“I could have picked any project,” Lennon noted. “I really love storytelling.”

Stop-motion animation is not a new mode of artistic expression for Lennon, but she said she had to dive in to her coursework and follow the guidance of her mentor. Once the film was complete, she began submitting it to film festivals like BIKFF.

Lennon was invited to screen “Fractured Grace” in Boston and was invited to talk about the process of how she made the film. She also got to hear from experienced filmmakers, which she said “was very cool.”

Nearing the end of her senior year at NEIA, Lennon plans to continue her studies in college. She noted she will be going to Skidmore College in the fall to study film, animation and theater.

“I’m super excited about that,” she said. “I think it’s going to give me the opportunity to dive deeper into things and have more time to discover what I’m passionate about.”

— NICK SCHOFIELD

Latest News

The Hopkinton Women’s Club on Wednesday held its annual Candidates Night, which focused primarily on the three candidates for the two open seats on the School Committee.

The Parks & Recreation Commission on Tuesday agreed to restructure the booking process for the athletic fields on Fruit Street and increase fees for in-town user groups.

This week’s Baypath Adoptable Animal is Candy, an affectionate and easygoing dog looking for connection and comfort.

The latest Move in Style Athlete Spotlight shines on softball sophomore Elena Valis, who coach Shannon Allbery-Yerardi hails as one of the team’s most versatile athletes and “a true utility player.”

Photo of the Day

Individuals gather at Sandy Beach for the Lake Maspenock Preservation Association’s spring cleanup this past Saturday.

PHOTO/JOHN CARDILLO