Two H&A Student Films Screen at Cannes
Our students are international hits! Two student films saw their world premieres at the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival: The Perch, directed by Television, Radio, Film, and Theatre’s Patrick Mattes, and Fossil, by Digital Media Art students Emily Bright and Rick Paz. The short-film screenings at Cannes brought young filmmakers from around the world together to share their work, see the work of others, and make connections that only a festival like Cannes can foster.
The Perch, directed by Television, Radio, Film, and Theatre’s Patrick Mattes
The Cannes Film Festival, held every May in Cannes, France, began in 1946, and is the premiere international film event for both established filmmakers and up-and-coming young visionaries. For nearly two weeks, the town on the French Riviera brings together filmmakers, actors, producers, agents, distributors, and other industry professionals to experience the best and most innovative movies of the year. And while there is a focus on big name, feature-length films that arrive with the buzz of critical acclaim, the festival also gives a platform to the unique artistic creations of young writers and directors like Mattes, Bright, and Paz. It also gives students direct insight into the “business” of the film industry.
“The festival was a large array of new experiences for me,” Patrick says. “Cannes, of course, is the world’s largest film market. There is an entire floor of the building dedicated to buying and selling films. I literally saw million-dollar deals happen right in front of my eyes. That was definitely the high point for me. It was an honor to be around such high-profile individuals in the film business.”
Emily Bright agrees. “Two of our club members went—Ryan Allen, our cinematographer, and me. This was a great learning experience for us,” she says. “Cannes gave us the chance to see and interact with people who were involved in the film industry on a global scale.”
Fossil, by Digital Media Art students Emily Bright and Rick Paz
An intense study of a young man haunted by sounds, The Perch also won Jury Prize at Campus MovieFest, the largest student-film festival in the United States. The Perch and Fossil join Melissa Lewelling’s More Than a Number (2014) and Kourosh Ahari’s Malaise (2014) as SJSU student films screened at Cannes, continuing our college’s tradition of bringing San José State University onto the world stage.
Fossil takes a bleak look at human-computer interaction, though Bright says producing the short was anything but bleak. “Fossil was more fun than anything else,” she says. “We wanted to see if we could take skills that we had learned from other areas of our practice and apply it in a new way. Given that none of the team had made a movie before, we looked at this as a challenge.” A challenge that paid off, obviously.
Both students pointed to their studies at SJSU as keys to their successes.
Emily says, “Fossil would not have been possible without our experience at SJSU. SJSU has allowed us to not only gain the technical skills, but also has allowed us to implement them in unconventional ways. Our group consists of individuals who have gained knowledge in different practices by taking classes in art, design, philosophy, and computer science.”
Patrick agrees. “SJSU really helped me get to where I needed to be as a filmmaker,” he says. “The connections I made while at SJSU were priceless and extremely beneficial. The faculty and staff do a great job of fostering creativity both in and out of the classroom and I think that really helped me bring my ideas to life.”
Patrick’s most recent work, Eternal Harvest, is a “Lovecraft-style horror film about two skeptic scientists who attempt to bridge the gap between science and religion by communication with the afterlife,” Patrick says. The film was recently screened on October 29th at the Lund International Fantastic Film Festival in Lund, Sweden—just in time for Halloween! He is currently finishing Disaffected Youth, a concept short film for a feature length version of the same story, and will submit the film to festivals when it is complete.
Check out our students’ excellent work for yourself:
The Perch: https://vimeo.com/142533364
Fossil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRzszYcjrCA
