Film festival’s home-grown features

The Newport Beach Film Festival may focus on the international world of independent film, but it certainly has not forgotten the local guys.

Orange County filmmakers, whose work will account for about 10% of the films screened at the festival this year, find themselves in the same arena as Hollywood’s big names.

“We try and focus on local film schools, like Chapman and Orange Coast,” said Meghan McGarvey, the events coordinator for the festival. “We try to promote the films made in our own backyard.”

Just three years ago, the only student films shown at the event were from USC.

Scott Broberg, coordinator of Orange Coast College’s film and video department, decided to cross the backyard, knock on the festival’s front door and ask for a role for OCC films.

“The whole reason we started this relationship with the festival was to get the students seen,” Broberg said.

Though all the films were shot for classes at OCC, filming locations were all over the map. One film, “Surreality,” was shot in Las Vegas and involved professional stunt drivers and a highway car crash.

Jessica Mount, the film’s director, said the demands of filming have caused her to take longer than planned to complete her OCC course requirements.

“I have been there forever, especially doing these films,” Mount said. “You can’t exactly take all of the classes you need when shooting.”

The Costa Mesa resident said she still cringes when thinking about the $6,000 it took to make the film, but not all of the films financially burdened their student creators.

Take Paul Harth, who filmed “Iniquity” with a budget of $200.

What started out as a drama ended in comedy when Harth filmed a story of revenge starring Lego figures.

“A buddy of mine and I were joking about how it would be funny to see Legos killing each other,” he said, “and I took it a little more seriously than he did, I guess.”

The second-year OCC student used his family members as occasional cast and crew; his father and sister gave voice to most of the characters. He said he was honored to be chosen for the festival and shocked that people outside of his family want to view the film.

“I love the creation aspect of it ? the idea that you can create an entire world and make people feel like they are in it,” Harth said. “And it’s different than a book, [because] you can share it with hundreds of people at a time.”

For Haman Movafagh, the world represented was his own. The OCC film student tells the story of his experiences with a girl who had a profound effect on his life.

He and business partner Jarrod Rogen spent seven weeks living on two hours of sleep a night. They filmed in Orange County every day after Rogen finished his day job working construction in Manahattan Beach.

“Some days we would film for 21 hours straight,” Rogen said. “Coffee was my best friend at the time.”

“My goal is to have a scene where everyone is silent and just into the moment of the film,” Movafagh said.

Not all of the films in the festival come from local students, however. In his youth, Newport Beach resident Justin Lo could be found performing at the South Coast Repertory.

His “The Conrad Boys” was shot in Newport Beach.

“It should be fun for Newport Beach locals watching the film to try and spot places they’re familiar with,” Lo said. “And I’m so excited to be showing the film at the Lido Theatre, where I’ve been watching films since I was a kid.”

His film, which will have its premiere at the festival on April 24, follows two brothers after the death of their mother. It focuses on the turmoil that enters their lives after the older brother, Charlie, played by Lo, befriends a troubled young man.

Boo Boo Stewart, also a local, plays the role of Charlie’s younger brother.

Lo began the two-year process of writing the screenplay while attending UCLA. In production, he unexpectedly found himself working as the film’s director, writer, editor and lead actor.

“I always wanted to write it but had not planned on directing. But when it came down to it, I was the person who new the story the best, so I just gave it a shot,” Lo said. “Same with the editing.”

Films from Cal State Fullerton, USC, Saddleback College, Cal State Long Beach will also be shown at the festival.

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