The Academy of Visual and Performing Arts’ Young Filmmakers will premier two new films, “iDate” and “The Landlady,” in the Sony Black Box Theatre (Frost 9) at Culver City High School.
The new student-crafted films will screen as a part of the Frost Film Festival on Friday, Jan. 14 and Saturday, Jan. 15 at 7 o’clock both evenings.
The price of admission is $10. Tickets may be purchased at the door beginning at 6 on the nights of the Festival.
In student films as well as professional films, the final product represents the vision of the director. Senior Ben Mullen directed “iDate,” a short story about a face to face encounter between a man and a woman… But, isn’t there an “app” for that yet?
Also, “The Landlady” is a film directed by Katherine Maxwell, adapted from a short story by Roald Dahl. A naive college student rents a room from an unassuming landlady because the price is cheap.
[img]1064|exact|||no_popup[/img]
Vedant Swarup, foreground, and Ben Mullin line up shot. At left, Niichi Hayashi.
[img]1065|exact|||no_popup[/img]
Elena Silva, Assistant Director of “The Landlady”
[img]1066|exact|||no_popup[/img]
Katherine Maxwell, Director of “The Landlady”
[img]1067|exact|||no_popup[/img]
Ben Mullen, Director of “iDate”
But why is she so insistent that he sign the guestbook? The crew members who worked on the fall films are the forty AVPA film students plus professional and non-professional actors. Special thanks go to Mr. Paul Calderon, who taught the film production class through West LA College in the after school AVPA film program that allows the students to earn college credit for their participation.
As a special bonus, this year The Young Storytellers Foundation will collaborate with our program and host a professional “table read” of two original student screenplays at the start of the event. This will allow audiences a sneak peak at the AVPA students’ work in development, which was produced within the West L.A. College Screenwriting class taught by Mr. Peter Sullivan. It also will highlight AVPA’s continuing collaboration with The Young Storytellers Foundation and Sony Pictures.
The community is invited to join the AVPA Young Filmmakers for a diverse mix of local high school student films shown on the big screen.
The event is a student juried festival that highlights the finest local high school films from the last year. The students had tremendous help from parents, community members and vendors to bring their film projects to fruition. In addition to Sony Pictures, the Film Dept. enjoyed industry support from the Center Theatre Group in the form of classroom materials and a fieldtrip to the Mark Taper Forum to see a production of The Glass Menagerie. The students also visited a photography exhibition entitled “Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography since the Sixties” at the Getty.
The Film Dept. was pleased to have recently received a FEDCO Foundation Grant that will allow students to participate in further filmmaking workshops and also attend a play at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in the spring.
They thanked the guest professionals who taught master classes to prepare the film students in directing the actors. These industry professionals include Jason Pugatch and Bill Thompson, Associate Director and Executive Director of the Young Storytellers Foundation, along with actress Laura Heisler.
With their guidance, students were able to practice working with professional actors on scenes selected from The Glass Menagerie. They also were grateful to visiting screenwriters Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Anna and the King) who visited the Screenwriting class for a Q&A with students about their craft.
The Frost Film Festival is open to the community, but seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis only. For information, call 310.84.4200, ext. 3306 between 3 and 5 p.m.,Monday through Friday.
The Academy of Visual and Performing Arts at Culver City High School has been inspiring and empowering students to build a compassionate, creative community through innovative and challenging arts education since 1996. AVPA enjoys strong support from Sony Pictures and other area businesses as well as from the Culver City community. For information about the Academy, go to http://avpa.org or contact Dr. Tony Spano at 310.842.4200, ext. 6094 or Kristine Hatanaka at 310.842.4200 ext. 6001.
