Surf City director’s film debuts at festival

Lolita Harper

Like all filmmakers taking part in the Newport Beach Film Festival,

Surf City director Mike Goedecke wants to attract attention to his

short film.

Unlike other filmmakers, however, Goedecke has embarked on this

endeavor by allowing other creative forces to form the final product.

Goedecke’s film, “Untitled: 003 -- Embryo,” follows various

characters through a series of dreams and scenes that were each

created by other filmmakers, animators and studios.

“This film involves various artists creating a film and not really

knowing how it would all come together,” Goedecke said. “We had a

narrative and then incorporated all these dream sequences, and so the

movie has a very unique feeling because of that. It is very magical

as a result.”

Goedecke and Kane Roberts, who co-wrote the screenplay with him,

forged the outline for the story and then contacted various studios

to contribute dream scenarios for the assorted characters.

The Huntington Beach native said the film received very positive

feedback during its showings earlier in the week, which reaffirmed

his belief that the collaborative process was one worth pursuing.

“This festival has been great and really a lot of fun,” Goedecke

said. “People really seem to be into it.”

Goedecke said it was heartening to see people’s reactions to the

film and to hear them laughing in the right places and perhaps

gasping in others. The personal interaction with the audience is the

culminating experience of filmmaking, he said.

“You make these films in a vacuum, so I am just excited to get it

shown to others,” he said.

The festival awards ceremony will be held Friday, but Goedecke is

not too concerned with that formality. While it would be wonderful to

take home an honor, it is more important for him to make connections,

show his film, meet his audience and share his unparalleled

filmmaking concept with others.

The Newport Beach Film Festival has allowed him the opportunity to

do all those things, and the Orange County local is grateful for

that, he said. An award would be nice, though.

“The key for us is just trying to showcase a new way of filmmaking

that is not traditional, but still very entertaining,” he said.

“Hopefully, someone in Hollywood will take notice of this new way and

parlay it into something else.”

* LOLITA HARPER is a reporter with Times Community News. She may

be reached at (949) 574-4275 or by e-mail at

lolita.harper@latimes.com.