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Fallbrook Film Festival pops with talent!

Amid the hum of voices and the robust stream of poured champagne, the Fallbrook Film Festival began and ended with a pop! With sounds mingling in a murmur that sounded like a film track, guests at both the opening and closing receptions shared stories. Under the bright tracks of small lights that were fashioned to illuminate works of art, guests and guest-artists were spotlighted.

Lending a spot of glamour to the events was Chase Masterson, who played a mysterious singer in James Kerwin’s brilliant festival entry, “Yesterday Was a Lie.” Masterson, who is an accomplished television and movie actor, stars as Xela in the mini-series “Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.”

From full-length features to two-minute shorts the inaugural Fallbrook Film Festival was bubbling over with talent. It seems that in studios and settings all over people are producing films because the eighty films chosen were selected from a field of two hundred. It was an impossible task to view each film during the three-day festival held April 25-27 simply due to simultaneous screenings. (If I don’t mention a film it does not mean it is not a worthy work.)

A panel of ten judges, some with Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), Director’s Guild of America (DGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) credentials, selected the most outstanding from a repertoire of outstanding films.

“This festival is here for the work a lot of us did, but mainly Brigitte,” said Linda Mandrayer, one of the festival organizers. Brigitte Schlemmer, who formerly worked for Universal Studios, was the festival’s executive director. Other festival organizers included Donna Walden, Adrienne Armstrong and Ronald Shattuck.

A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to seven-time nominated and two-time Emmy award-winning cinematographer and former Fallbrook resident Tom Del Ruth, who worked on films such as “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” “Stand By Me,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Look Who’s Talking,” as well as several television shows including “ER” and “The West Wing.” Del Ruth is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and has won four ASC Awards but was nominated 11 times.

Del Ruth told the audience, “I want to thank you for a partial close to my career.” His 40-year career in film began in the Disney mailroom. Of his film career, Del Ruth mentioned that it has been “a wonderful journey.”

During an audience response period Del Ruth discussed shooting “The West Wing.” When a guest asked why the show’s cinematographic quality matched that of a feature, he told the guests that it was shot like a feature with a long shooting schedule and the best of sets.

During the festival’s screenings attention was given to several films that might not necessarily fit into mainstream cinema but possess a great deal of artistic value.

An afternoon’s screening at one venue was dedicated to art-related film, which included animation.

One of the films, the delightful five-minute-long “Simulacra,” is the story of a sterile machine planet where a robot with one eye spies a flower petal, then zeros in on the plant miles away. He identifies the flower has having been extinct and sets out on a journey to find it. This short but succinct film won the award for “Best Animation.”

An eight-minute film that carried a lot of emotional impact was the “Cantata in C Major,” which was a piece with over six hundred film clips of screamers from vintage films. Creating a piece of electronic music, the screams were almost too much for the eight minutes. One woman commented, “It made me feel like screaming.”

“Bottled” is a delightful four-minute animated work by Jian Lee about animated stick figures created by an artist. One woman figure was placed in a bottle and was bored, so the artist created a man figure that was placed in an adjacent bottle. Will the two figures discover one another? The outcome is delightful.

A fascinating documentary called “Leda de Arte Leda” is a 29-minute film highlighting the life of Brazilian sculptor Leda Selmi Dei Gontijo. Creating sculptures in soapstone and wood this 90-year-old artist tells the camera, “Never do <anything> because of what other’s think,” and “I don’t live alone, I live with God and my mobile phone.”

Tom Rittenhouse and Michael Palma, two friends and filmmakers from Atlanta, GA, who met while students at Georgia State, were happy to have their 25-minute film “The Procession” showcased. This color film also starred the two young men and a cast of about seven others.

The film chronicles the adventures, both physically and mentally, of two young men who are traveling to the funeral of a friend. The excitement begins when a tire is blown and the two must continue on foot or hitch rides. The film incorporates elements of suspense and humor.

The expressions on Palma’s face tell many wordless stories. He said he enjoyed “getting to be other characters.”

Rittenhouse told of his “wild imagination.” “It is fun to put things I visualize and let others view it.”

The filmmakers plan to keep “The Procession” on the festival circuit but also have future plans to extend it to feature-length. “The audience tells us that they want to see more,” Rittenhouse noted.

A team from Montana produced the psychological thriller “Paper Dolls,” which was filmed in Glacier National Park. The movie chronicles two friends who are attacked by Sasquatch-like creatures. Filmmakers David Blair and Adam Pitman, who appeared at the festival, said that it was “a natural” for them to produce the film, having grown up in Montana in the shadow of the Sasquatch legends.

“Desperately Seeking Paul McCartney,” a one-hour and twenty-three-minute journey through reality film making, began with one woman’s brief experience with Beatle Paul McCartney. The film is focused on Ruth Anson’s journey to find Paul so she can ask if he remembers her.

The film is directed by Marc Cushman and features Anson, a former newscaster who interviewed many well-known personalities, including McCartney. During an interview that took place in the mid-1960s she inquires about McCartney’s marriage plans. His response is captured on film.

Anson and her camera crew gain brief access to the Grammy Awards, where she is shown waving a still photograph of herself with McCartney as she cries out, “Paul McCartney asked me to marry him!”

Cushman and Anson, as well as other members of the film’s crew, appeared at the screening and lingered to answer questions. Anson’s husband was also present and he commented, “Her obsession is real.”

Look for future articles highlighting festival choices: “Yesterday Was a Lie,” “Armed for the Challenge” and “Tattered Angel.”

Fallbrook Film Festival Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award

Tom Del Ruth (ASC)

Cinematographer, two-time Emmy Award winner and former Fallbrook resident Del Ruth has worked on many films and television shows during a career that spans 40 years.

Best Narrative Feature

“The Flyboys” (1:58)

Two boys from a small town find their courage tested when they accidentally stow away aboard an airplane owned by the mob. Directed by Rocco DeVilliers and co-starring Jesse James, Reiley McClendon, Stephen Baldwin and Tom Sizemore.

Best Documentary Feature

“Beyond the Call” (1:25)

In a Mother-Teresa-meets-Indiana-Jones adventure three middle-aged men, former soldiers and modern day knights travel the world delivering life-saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians in some of the most dangerous yet beautiful places on Earth, the front lines of war. By Academy Award nominated filmmaker Adrian Belic.

Best Narrative Short

“The Vaudevillian” (0:16)

A ventriloquist’s relationship with his dummy is strained after they lose their job with a traveling vaudeville act. The ventriloquist realizes he is able to scam farmers for money, much to the dummy’s dismay, and loses his conscience so that he can continue. A film by Chapman University students.

Best Documentary Short

“Armed for the Challenge” (0:21)

Willie Stewart is a man of steel with one arm and another of carbon fiber. He takes you on a ride through humor and passion, proving that disability doesn’t mean inability. A film by Fallbrook residents Kent Allison and Patricia Thio.

Best Animation

“Simulacra” (0:05)

In this film about a robot planet, a one-eyed robot spots a petal from a flower. He identifies the flower and sets off on a journey to find it. A film by a student from New York University.

Best Student Film

“The Line” (0:24)

Alvaro Nuñez has crossed the border many times, but this time is different: his son Omar is coming with him to live and work in the US. A film by Kent Bassett.

Director’s Choice Award

“Defying Gravity” (1:31)

A runaway girl, homeless boy, illegal Mexican and transvestite waitress find themselves on the run in a stolen hearse. By Escondido filmmakers Lisa and Craig James of Balancing Act Pictures.

 

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