“Hooked” (2008)
Flash video (3 min 52 sec)
By Kevin Okulolo, 2008 UC Davis Film Festival winner for Best Animation and Best Sound Design
Download Adobe Flash (free)
“Everything Is Nothing” (2008)
Flash video (5 min 25 sec)
By Jonah Cox, 2008 UC Davis Film Festival winner for Best in Show and Best Experimental Film
“School Daze” (2008)
Flash video (2 min 59 sec)
By Michael Sun, 2008 UC Davis Film Festival winner for Best Comedy winner
“Call for Submissions” (2009)
Flash video (27 sec)
By Chia Wu
“Opening Night Intro” (2009)
Flash video (32 sec)
By Monique Romero
Students put films on the big screen at UC Davis Film Festival
Who knows? The next Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg or Nora Ephron may be a student at UC Davis.
If so, he or she is likely to be discovered through the UC Davis Film Festival, now in its 9th year.
This year’s festival — featuring animation, comedy, drama, commercials, documentaries, music videos and other short films — plays at the Davis Varsity Theatre from 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. May 27 and 28.
The increasingly popular event is produced by the Department of Theatre and Dance in association with the Technocultural Studies Program and is co-sponsored by Art Studio and Film Studies. All tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Varsity.
What’s in store
Last year’s winners provide an idea of what attendees might expect to see at the Varsity this May:
- In “Hooked,” the film that won Best Animation and Best Sound Design, creator Kevin Okulolo, a UC Davis senior majoring in psychology and film studies, examines campus life through the eyes of a naïve young action hero, Khale.
- In “Everything Is Nothing,” which took home Best in Show and Best Experimental Film, recent UC Davis graduate Jonah Cox reveals his process of making peace with the untimely death of his father. Cox is now working as a counselor at Families First, a Davis-based social services agency.
- And in the Best Comedy winner, “School Daze,” fifth-year biology student Michael Sun parodies the university classroom.
‘The short is a good way for students to learn about the language of film — it is also one of the hardest forms to achieve.’
Sarah Pia Anderson, theatre and dance professor
The festival is open to any UC Davis student with an idea and access to a video camera. Entries must be no longer than 10 minutes, including credits. Submissions have been solicited across campus, including via “Call for Submission” videos produced by undergraduate design students and shown on TV screens at Memorial Union, the student center on campus.[link to Chia Wu film ]
Other design students have produced introductory videos that will welcome the audience and introduce the festival on opening night at the Davis Varsity Theatre.
Engaging with arts faculty
Not only does the film festival provide a professional showcase for a wide array of student talent — writers, directors, cinematographers, actors, crew and producers — it also offers participants the opportunity to engage with UC Davis arts faculty. The faculty, many of whom are professionals in the area of film, television and new media, give students constructive criticism as well as advice on how to take their work to the next level.
A faculty group curates the program and awards prizes to winners. Past prizes have included visits to the sets of professional faculty who work in Los Angeles and other film industry centers.
Okulolo, one of last year’s winners, has reaped additional benefits from his exposure at the film festival: Sponsorship funding from a flash portal company, NewGrounds.com, to help him launch his own animation studio, Leafworthy Entertainment.
“Short films require the same storytelling and filmmaking skills as longer works,” theatre and dance professor Sarah Pia Anderson said. “The short is a good way for students to learn about the language of film — it is also one of the hardest forms to achieve.”
Mentored by Hollywood, Broadway professionals
The Department of Theatre and Dance has several faculty members with experience in the film industry. Anderson, a film and television director, has directed episodes of the Emmy Award-winning dramas ER , Ally McBeal, Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty. She is currently working on a film adaptation of Jane Smiley’s novella Good Will.
John Iacovelli, who teaches theater design, has designed more than 200 productions at theaters across the country and earned a mantel full of industry awards, including an Emmy. He has also designed for television and film including the TV series Ed and The Cosby Show, and the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
Maggie Morgan, a professor of costume design, has dressed actors in regional, Broadway and off-Broadway theater; opera and ballet; and such feature films as Apollo 13, Men in Black and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. A UC Davis alumna, Morgan’s career began in the Department of Theatre and Dance in the 1980s.
On the UC Davis home page: Michael Sun won Best Comedy in the 2008 UC Davis Film Festival for his short film, “School Daze.” (Karin Higgins/UC Davis photo)