And the beat goes on...
The latest crop of film festival shorts from Orange Coast College were presented by OCC faculty advisor/photographer/musician Scott Broberg at the fabulous Regency Lido Theater. Sunday was a great day to view said shorts at the venue in Newport Beach for several reasons including the stunning theater itself firmly nestled in the history of the area.
And the students themselves were potentially making history. Who knows which of them will continue his or her film career and become the next - well, you fill in the blanks.
Broberg called the presentation "our Sundance" and he's right. What an amazing opportunity for student work to rise to the top and be seen and supported by the local home crowd that itself probably has planted seeds in many Hollywood productions.
About 350 people packed the theater to enjoy shorts that ranged from documentaries to romanticfantasies. The filmmakers showed polish and poise in their work as did their actors who all seemed quite capable.
Nothing too ambitious was attempted and that's good since budgets for these mini-masterpeices were probably on this side of a dinner for four in a Marie Calenders.
Advisor Broberg and department chair Bob Lazarus manage to help these nascent filmmakers
squeeze every bit of juice from their presentations. My only gripe, and this is an ongoing one, is that tighter stories would have helped some of the films. The writing always seems to take second to the visual presentation. <Shrug.> I've been griping to Hollywood about that same exact thing for years. :-)
It was an enjoyable and enlightening 1.5hrs and watching the glowing faces of the enthusiastic students at the Q&A afterwards made it even more enjoyable.
I did see a few parents in the audience squirm at the liberal use of the f-word in some films since they were sitting with small children but for the most part, the films were family friendly - at least from a language standpoint - the stories they presented were challenging, funny, serious works of art that hopefully with jump-start the careers of these neophytes.
Look for their names in the credits of future work.
You can follow this program on Facebook HERE
The filmmakers and their shorts were:
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Discarded By: Richard Purvis, Alastair Purvis Abandoned and isolated, Army enlistment may be his only choice. |
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Jumping Frenchmen of Maine By: Matthew Harreld, Marshall Murr When everything in life surprizes you, imagine what falling in love can do. |
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Laguna Fencing By: Justin Ramirez, Brian Lang Coach Nic Dinu contributes a lifetime of knowledge and skill to a group of talented young student in the complex and underrated art of fencing.
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Rorschach By: Nathan Schneekluth, Zach Zombeck What do you see? |
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Sara’s Story By: Rebekah Pantel* A young woman leaves her former life to help children with a life-threatening disease. |
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You Thought I was Crazy By: Shelby Hall The only thing Andrew fears more than germs is Mr. Duncan.
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Weird Fishes By: Justin Ramirez, Guillermo Luna, Brian Lang Life is a river. Get wet. |
