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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Filmmaker Peter Daulton’s documentary, Eyes Wide Open, won the prize for Best Documentary at this year’s Smogdance Film Festival. |
Film festival continues to impress
Claremont’s smog was overcome by rain this past weekend but that did not deter hundreds of movie lovers who made their way out to enjoy the Smogdance Film Festival at Harvey Mudd College. In its 10th year running, the festival has been an avenue for aspiring directors looking to make their mark on the film industry.
Out of 260 submissions, the festival showcased 44 short films in a variety of categories, including animation, documentaries, comedies and short dramas. No film was longer than 37 minutes.
“The films are different from Hollywood, which are very formula driven and out to make money,” said Charlotte Cousins, festival director. “Films at a festival like this are more thought-provoking and artistic, and that’s what we want to promote.”
Roughly 650 viewers attended over the course of the weekend, with films shown on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.
“We had a great turnout,” Ms. Cousins said. “If it weren’t for the rain, I am sure more people would have made it out.”
Filmmakers were happy to take part in the event and showcase their talent. From high school students to those more established in the industry, the film makers hailed from New Zealand, Japan, the United Kingdom and 9 different US states.
“This is the first time I am going to be able to see [my film] with a live audience which is really important for a beginning film maker like myself,” said director Peter Daulton. “It allows me to be able to gage and sense audience reaction. I can really learn a lot.”
Mr. Daulton’s documentary, Eyes Wide Open, follows the journey of a group of Quakers who tour American cities with a display to commemorate fallen soldiers and civilians of the Iraq war. The group displayed a pair of boots for each deceased soldier and shoes for civilians.
“Until you see it personally somehow, numbers or graphs in a newspaper don’t do it,” Mr. Daulton said. “Until you walk around the corner of a busy downtown area and see a huge field of 2000, 3000, now almost 4000 boots, only then do you really visualize what the Iraq war means in terms of human life.” (story continues below)
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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Volunteers Rene Hernandez, left, and Samuel Manes hang signs advertising the Smogdance Film Festival held on the Harvey Mudd College campus. |
A favorite of both the 4-member jury and the audience alike, Eyes Wide Open won first prize for best documentary and the viewers’ choice award in the category ‘open/experimental.’
“People like to use the term supporting the troops in wartime,” Mr. Daulton said. “But sometimes I think the best way to support the troops is to ask the tough questions before the shooting starts. I think that’s where the media, congress and the American people failed.”
Another popular film was Lie Detector, a comedy about a man whose temperature rises based on the severity of the lies those around him are telling.
“It’s just nice to have an audience,” said director John Moran, a graduate student at USC School of Cinematic Arts. “That’s why I made it – to have people watch and enjoy it.”
The audience also got a chance to participate. Viewers received a scorecard when entering that asked to rate each film on a scale from one to 10. They also voted on their favorite films in 3 different categories – comedy, animation and open/experimental.
The dA Center for the Arts in downtown Pomona created the film festival in 1998. This year will be the last for Harvey Mudd College to host the festival as organizers hope to relocate Smogdance to the Fox Theater in Pomona beginning next year. The Fox is currently under restoration and is set to re-open later this year.
