Without a cloud in the sky the weather in Malibu the afternoon of Friday January 21 2011 is as clear as the REELSTORIES’ staff vision.
I watch from my table in Joslyn Plaza as over 60 Pepperdine student volunteers scurry like ants to build the foundation for the night. Leading the bunch are the dedicated members of the board of student film festival directors. Vanessa Magos Maeve Majali and Lucy Prosapio are but a few to name.
As the red carpet is unfurled and a stately tent is erected I admire as volunteers furl their eyebrows in contemplative satisfaction determinedly tugging the loose ribbons of the afternoon together into a blossoming bow.
As sunset strikes Southern California there is a quiet before the storm scorching Joslyn Plaza. Project managers and good Samaritans alike await the influx of visitors; the only sound to be heard is a low expectant murmur over the splash of Joslyn fountain.
As I admire the student-submitted art standing in the twilight of the courtyard the plaza heats up with the hustle and bustle of incoming film-lovers. The art pieces span from an avant-garde mask of Abraham Lincoln by M.A. Alford to an oil painting of impressionistic flowers by senior Courtney Branch.
I mingle with the newcomers inquiring how they feel about all this art splashed across on campus tonight. Freshman and English major Jason Allen encouragingly replies: “I feel as though it’s one of the reasons why I came to Pepperdine for this opportunity. I think it’s great. The talent the desire the motivation is all based on the support of our student body.”
The communal vibes are thriving as the band of Vinnie Ferra play their moody heartfelt tunes to an enthusiastic crowd of students and visitors dispersed around Freedom Rock. The four-piece band is bathed in peach and pink lighting under the navy sky as their talents shine atop a gold flecked carpet. While the band’s audience chants for “one more song!!” Ashton Bowles is snapping sensational shots of newcomers after they descend the stairs into Joslyn Plaza at the RSFF photowall.
There are five student club booths set up in the arena below Vinnie Ferra’s band representing: Green Team Graziadio Entertainment Club Innercity Arts Acting on AIDS and AMEN Missionary.
A guestbook draped on the wall behind the band is plastered with a steady flow of gratitude for the event. One of my favorite praises reads: “The creative outpouring leaves me speechless – The Detweilers”. The excitement over the event shakes the ground.
As I catch the end of the band’s set and witness the quartet embrace in a gratuitous hug after their encoreI am reminded of the dedicated collaboration of the Pepperdine community responsible for this night.
But what is the journey of the student work before it can pass into the gilded gates of the visionary film festival? Religion major and festival director Andrew Hagen explains they “were hand-picked by the director’s board a group that any Pepperdine student can get involved in.” The student submissions were whittled down from 12 to 6 based on how closely they followed the REELSTORIES’ vision to “instill change through films that tell meaningful stories”.
Randumb Show co-producer Blake Curtis expresses his excitement over the upcoming student films commending: “I think we have the most talented group of colleagues working in production. The bar is constantly raised where student films are becoming more and more professional-looking. I love what opportunities it provides. It’s very inspiring for me to watch.”
The film aficionado has whetted my appetite. I officially want to break down the doors to see what creative genius is lurking inside the auditoriums.
It appears I’m not the only one. By the time the hands of my watch tick to 7 o’clock a hush has fallen over Joslyn Plaza and the fountain’s symphony resumes in harmony with the crickets’ chirp. With over 1200 attendees to the cost-free event both Elkins and Rockwell auditorium have to turn away stragglers as they are packed to the gills.
Inside the lights dim. The rumbling mumble dies down. The crowd is swept into darkness and the massive screen sets our faces aglow to embark the audience on its greatly-anticipated journey.
Whistles and claps are delivered with gusto at one last attempt to break the frenetic energy. The first short Remember freezes their fire capturing their attention.
The thought-provoking film grapples with the flipside of a loved one’s passing.Screenwriter Jeff Loveness’ point comes across well—that perhaps it takes a death to force our pace to surrender to the succulent scenes played out before us in life.
We all roll on together through the following five films: Contact City of Widows The Watershed Jars and last but by no means least eleven eleven.
The breakthrough acting roles in Remember are painted as naturally as the harsh realities of The Watershed. The relatable emotional breakdown in Jars is dipped from the same palette as the dark comedy of Contact; albeit the colors come from different ends of the spectrum they blend together well.
As each story calls upon viewers to recognize the fleeting and fragile trajectory of life spectators disperse from the theater with a call to seize every moment while it is fresh.
With the light flooding her smiling face proud professor Susan Salas gushes in reaction to the films that “the story-telling was just fabulous.”
Meanwhile musical performance major Katt Newlon proclaimed Jars to be her favorite. She explained her appreciation as “it was carried through with music rather than spoken word.”
Each flick had stuck by the REELSTORIES’ vision to “paint a new perspective” an ideology expressed by RSFF founders Susie Lee Katie Stjernholm and Alec Eagon.
After the simultaneous screenings of feature films Wasteland and Exit through the Gift Shop art-appreciators refilled the Plaza. Celebrated screenwriter Randall Wallace (Braveheart) commenced the awards ceremony amidst the buzzing crowd.
The part-time Pepperdine professor paid the event the highest compliment confessing “I have been to the Oscars I’ve been to the Golden Globes. This is better than that…This event [focuses on] what you are feeling in your heart and what the people that made those movies are feeling in theirs.”
Then the accolades began.
Kyle Helf’s skill in the Loveness short Contact merited him the Excellence in Cinematography award. Helf pointed out it was the team efforts of Seth Allison Jeff Loveness and himself that allowed for their public recognition.
Contact brilliantly married the dark themes summoned by overwhelming emotion with the crew’s unique touch of comedy. Loveness and Allison’s organic performances were a pleasure to watch while Helf’s role behind the camera was seamless.
Senior Austin Chapman cleaned up shop earning the REEL Cause Audience Choice and Grand Prize awards. He was granted the REEL Cause award by a panel of judges for the impact stirred by his documentary City of Widows.
The documentary opened our eyes to the immense struggle of Indian wives who have lost their husbands. They must suffer a life of banishment to Vrinidivan where they spend the rest of their existence inhabiting the various encampments which provide only terrible conditions lack of food being the least of which.
Through his eye-opening documentary Austin Chapman has banged the gong of the Pepperdine community drawing their attention to this tragic situation. We learn through the student filmmaker’s volunteer work with the White Rainbow Project that there is no reason to wait for we can be a part of the change through the humanitarian outreach program now.
The inspired tale of eleven eleven garnered the remaining distinctions of the night.
Captured by terrific cinematography it appears Chapman’s self-assurance has been bolstered by his increasing familiarity with the medium. He emb
arked on a bold venturein filming what he described as a loosely-planned film.
Starring Mishy Turner and Austin Chapman viewers relive the chance meeting of two strangers. In the brief time they share Chapman’s character learns to embrace fearlessness from Turner’s spontaneous character. He is allowed the opportunity to drink up life to the last drop.
“I wanted to create something beautiful but also as natural as possible so the only girl I had in my head for the role opposite me was Mishy the daring director explained.
The duo has fabulous chemistry without question. An interesting angle of the film is that it is shot from the director’s perspective entirely: Chapman, who is deaf, shared with us his unique perspective on life through a silent film.
Chapman recalls: I immediately scrapped all the audio and went to work on cut number 9. Ironically enough by the final deadline cut it was cut number 11.”
The filmmaker claimed he owed everything to the editing finesse of Robby DeVillez the translating dexterity of Brianna Jackson and the dynamite spirit of senior Theater and Telecommunications major Mishy Turner.
While being asked to examine the spirit of life from two different angles I have a startling realization that the line between mortality and celebration is sketched finely in gray. When Katie Stjernholm told me of the unified vision of the REELSTORIES’ co-founders “to inspire empower and tell storytelling in a new light” I came to be reminded of a line from one of the two feature films Wasteland.
Vik Muniz muses that “the most beautiful moment is when you change one thing into another. When sound becomes music..”
This festival is a question starter transforming thought into action solidarity into community the pang of mortality into the zing of life.
For more information on how to help the White Rainbow Project visit http://whiterainbowproject.org/#/get-involved or contact :
The White Rainbow Project
31596 Calle de Talar
Bonsall CA 92003
USA
Phone: (760) 717-4107
email info@whiterainbowproject.org
Linda Mandrayar: linda@whiterainbowproject.org
Jon Silvester: jon@whiterainbowproject.org