WARWICK –– The nightmare was over in 4 minutes and 32 seconds.

The victim lay strapped to a table. The torturers, bearing wrenches and knives, stood at his side. The scene was bloody, intense and horrific.

“I don’t know what they put in the water over at La Salle. That was one of the wildest things I’ve seen,” said University of Rhode Island film Prof. Dana Neugent after watching A Perfect Nightmare, the latest short film by La Salle Academy senior David Lawlor.

The shaggy-haired teenager was among the stars at the first Rhode Island Youth Film Festival, dubbed “Give Me Five,” which drew dozens of students, parents and teachers from nine high schools to Bishop Hendricken High School’s theater Saturday afternoon.

The event featured 20 student creations –– music videos, animation, a silent film, and of course Lawlor’s disturbing horror flick. After each viewing, a panel of three film professionals offered constructive criticism as the young filmmakers stood among an audience of their peers.

“We really wanted to have the students exposed to what other filmmakers are doing,” said panelist Steven Feinberg, director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office, who noted that he didn’t know any other filmmakers as a Cranston West high school student.

Indeed, things have changed over time. Some schools, like La Salle, already have their own film festivals. And others, like Westerly High School, offer video production classes. But never before has a statewide event drawn aspiring filmmakers together in the Ocean State.

“I’ve been looking forward to something like this in Rhode Island for 15 years –– a bigger venue where you get feedback from people who really know what they’re doing,” said Andy Donner, who teaches film production for Westerly. His students produced Case 1301, a short suspense film that was among yesterday’s favorites.

In the movie, Westerly sophomore Chip Connell plays a detective who solves a murder by stumbling across a left-handed suspect with a fondness for Tic Tacs.

“Here’s a little secret,” he said after the viewing, “the movie wasn’t supposed to be a comedy at all. But people were laughing. I guess they enjoyed it.”

Awards were distributed to each film crew later in the day. But the event wasn’t supposed to be competitive, according to Sherilyn Brown, education director of the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts, which helped coordinate the festival.

“It’s so much the way kids express themselves now,” she said of video. “We really want to support that.”

Meanwhile, Lawlor, of La Salle, said he plans to keep making horror films.

He’s not worried about scaring friends and family with his disturbing images. His grandparents were among those in attendance yesterday.

“We were a little frightened,” said his grandmother Cora Braga, of Johnston. “But he knows what he’s doing.”

speoples@projo.com