Volunteers unfurled the red carpet and erected a stately tent in Joslyn Plaza as a murmur reverberated through campus. Project managers and Good Samaritans alike awaited the influx of moviegoers to the second annual REELSTORIES FilmFest.
Joslyn began to heat up with the hustle and bustle of incoming film lovers. The art pieces on display ranged from an avant-garde mask of Abraham Lincoln complete with inflated blue-glove eyes by M.A. Alford to impressionistic flowers floating on water an oil painting by senior Courtney Branch.
Students were vocal about the pre-show happenings.
“I feel as though it’s one of the reasons why I came to Pepperdine for this opportunity freshman Jason Allen said. I think it’s great. The talent the desire the motivation is all based on the support of our student body.”
Vinnie Ferra played their moody heartfelt tunes to an enthusiastic crowd of students and visitors dispersed around the Rock. The four-piece band was bathed in peach and pink lighting under the navy sky as their talents shone atop a gold-flecked carpet. “One more song!” the audience chanted.
A poster-style guestbook draped on the wall behind the band was plastered with a steady flow of gratitude for the event.
The student film submissions to the festival 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.”
“I think we have the most talented group of students here working in production work said senior Blake Curtis,The Randumb Show; co-producer. The bar is getting constantly raised where student production films are becoming more and more professional looking.
“I love what opportunities it provides for fellow students. It’s very inspiring for me to watch work done by my fellow colleagues Curtis said.
By 7 p.m., more than 1,200 attendees to the free event crowded both Elkins and Rockwell auditoriums. T-shirt-wearing volunteers had to turn away stragglers to enforce the fire code.
Inside, the lights dimmed. The first short film, Remember, grappled with the flipside of a loved one’s passing — the power to bring friends together from all corners in celebration of days gone. Screenwriter Jeff Loveness, a 2010 Pepperdine graduate, conveyed a clear message: Death has an uncanny way of curbing our pace and making us appreciate the little wonders of life.
The audience rolled on together through the following five films: Contact, City of Widows, The Watershed, Jars and Eleven Eleven.
The breakthrough acting in Remember spoke as naturally as the harsh realities of The Watershed. The relatable emotional breakdown in Jars was painted from the same palette as the dark comedy of Contact.
As each story called upon viewers to recognize the spontaneous trajectory of life and to examine its fleeting and fragile nature, spectators departed the theater with a call to seize every moment while it is fresh.
Sophomore Katt Newlon proclaimed Jars to be her favorite. It was carried through with music Newlon said, rather than spoken word.”
After the simultaneous screenings of featured documentary Wasteland and Exit Through the Gift Shop art-appreciators refilled the plaza.
Randall Wallace screenwriter of Braveheart and Pearl Harbor and adjunct Pepperdine professor paid the event the highest compliment. He confessed: “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.”
Recent graduate Kyle Helf’s skill in the Loveness short Contact won him the Excellence in Cinematography award. Helf thanked the team efforts of senior Seth Allison and Loveness.
Contact brilliantly married the dark themes summoned by overwhelming emotion with the crew’s unique comic sensibility. 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 embarked on a bold venture in 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
ReelStories Film Festival interviews with the filmmakers
ReelStories Film Festival awards
Interviews