VIDEO: The UCD Film Festival is Coming to the Varsity Soon

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By UC Davis

The presents the Department of Theatre and Dance’s 12th Annual UC Davis Film Festival, produced in association with UC Davis Cinema and Technocultural Studies and co-sponsored by Art Studio. The festival of short films plays at the Davis Varsity Theatre Wednesday and Thursday, May 23-24, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 and $10, available at the Davis Varsity Theatre box office starting May 16.

Film festival advisor and Art Studio Professor Darrin Martin, says there is much for audiences to be excited about as UC Davis student work continues to grow in both quantity and quality.

“Student enthusiasm for more sophisticated approaches to expressing themselves through filmmaking is on the rise as they strive to master the language of a media-saturated culture,” he said. “Curiosity for the voices of tomorrow's storytellers, animators, and moving image makers should be the motivating factor to get the public out for two evenings of entertaining and thought provoking works.”

This year’s submissions include a mockumentary about a washed-up child star, a comedy where three twenty-somethings attain mundane abilities after eating a very old casserole, an existential drama about a woman struggling with her life’s purpose, an animated action hero adventure and a documentary about finding the perfect bone marrow donor.  The films will undergo a rigorous selection process to determine which make it to the festival screening.

2011 winner, Anna Hossnieh (Best Documentary “Standing Compassion”) has partnered with 2010 winner Meredith Sward (Best Experimental “Oh Dear”) in a joint 2012 submission of “The Irrelevant and Shallow Life of Birdie Peacock.” This mockumentary concerns a has-been child star and the filmmaker who struggles to make a movie out of her life.

Michael Figlock has entered the existential drama “Satisfaction” on behalf of the Filmmakers’ Ambitions club. It follows a woman's disorienting journey as she is thrown into other peoples' daily routines and struggles to cope with the demands asked of her in each of these scenarios.  

In Kealani Kitaura’s animated submission “Journey” we travel with a superhero who is followed by mischievous objects including a stuffed devil-bear and fold-up camping chair into a magical land where the moon replaces the sun and pink mountains line the horizon.  

Film Festival student lead-producer Ngoc Le has submitted her documentary “A Perfect Match” about Janet Liang, a UCLA student suffering from leukemia, and her journey to find a perfect bone marrow match.  The film was inspired by Le’s own recent struggle.

“When I was diagnosed with a life-long autoimmune disease last fall, I was told that I might eventually need a bone marrow transplant,” said Le. “During my treatment I became inspired upon reading media accounts of Janet's story. Her YouTube cry for help brought me to tears because she only had a few months to live and that made think ‘that could have been me or that will be me one day.’ I hope my film will somehow encourage more people to participate in the bone marrow drive to save her life as soon as possible.”

In addition to Le, the festival is directed by three UC Davis faculty members: Professors Sarah Pia Anderson and Jesse Drew, Cinema and Technocultural Studies, and Professor John Iacovelli, Department of Theatre and Dance. These producers serve as advisors along with other UC Davis faculty: Darrin Martin, Art Studio; Jaimey Fisher, Cinema and Technocultural Studies and German; Maggie Morgan, Department of Theatre and Dance; Pablo Ortiz, Department of Music; and Julie Wyman, Cinema and Technocultural Studies. These faculty members are professionals in film, television and new media who offer important feedback to the student filmmakers. The student production team includes technical director Todd Kaiser and producers Michelle Rossi and Sharon Gonzales.

• What: The 12^th Annual UC Davis Film Festival, an evening of unpredictable and exciting short  student films including comedy, drama, animation, documentaries and more
• Where: Davis Varsity Theatre, 616 Second Street, Davis 95616
• When: Wednesday–Thursday, May 23-24, 8:30 p.m.
• Tickets: $7 each night; $10 two-night pass available at Davis Varsity Theatre starting May 16
• More information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu 
• View past years’ winning films: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu/season/videos.aspx