Category Archives: RTVF in the PRESS

CINEQUEST SHOWCASES SPARTAN FILMS

Cinequest will preview Spartan Film Studios’ latest feature, “ALWAYS LEARNING” on March 5th at 9:30p.m. at the San Jose Repertory Theatre.

This coming-of-age story is relatable to director Robert Krakower, ’11 radio-television-film, since he was homeschooled just like the main character. Spartan Films spotlight event will include a sneak peek screening of Spartan Films latest, Always Learning, preceded by a highlights video of company productions and an interview with Spartan Films principals, Barnaby Dallas and Nick Martinez, plus the directors of All About Dad and Super Hero Party Clown.

SJSU Today’s Article provides a great overview of Cinequest’s showing of SJSU, Spartan Films and Animation-Illustration films.

Spartan Film Studios was recently featured in the Metro’s Cinequest preview and on the front page of the San Jose Mercury News.

RTVF SPARTAN STUDIOS ON FRONT PAGE OF MERCURY NEWS!

Cinequest 2013: At Spartan Studios, San Jose State students get their shot

 To read the full article go to:

http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_22637227/cinequest-2013-at-spartan-studios-san-jose-state?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

“Cinequest gives the students something to shoot for, something to dream about,” says SJSU teacher Barnaby Dallas, who runs Spartan alongside teacher Nick Martinez. “You never know who will see your screening and where that might lead.”

Dallas is also a script doctor at DreamWorks, so he knows the standards expected in the reel world. He and Martinez try to teach the students that showbiz is more about elbow grease than glitz and glamour.

“It’s a grind,” says Martinez, producer and co-director of Spartan. “We work 13 hours a day for 25 days. That’s the reality.”

Students start at the bottom of the rung by catering and work their way through costume, makeup and lighting. By graduation, they are no longer greenhorns.

METRO PREVIEWS SPARTAN FILMS & CINEQUEST

Here’s a great article on our program and the upcoming Cinequest Film Festival.

Please pass it on. http://www.metroactive.com/features/spartan-films.html

Meet the Spartans

A summer program at SJSU gives novice filmmakers a chance to create a feature at a fraction of the price of NYU or USC
One of the best film schools you’ve never heard of: San Jose State University’s student training facility Spartan Films, which for the last 12 years has led students through summer feature-length filmmaking workshops. As Barnaby Dallas, the coordinator of production at the studio says, “We have something in common with Woody Allen—we’re also always making one film a year.”
…

“It’s like a chemistry lab or any other training facility,” says Martinez. “We’re training the kids, with the idea of a real film at the end. It’s safe, but it’s college. You’re supposed to push the envelope.”

“You can fail,” Dallas says.

“Sometimes you do,” Martinez adds.

Dallas explains: “That’s not how we measure our success, anyway. It’s the training and the education the students get that matters. Some of their films play in Cinequest or smaller film fests. But just because some of the films Spartan makes lack that home-run quality, the students still get trained.”