A&E B11
Chronicle
The
Sept. 22, 2010
All photos reprinted with permission of Cheri Gaulke
In the Moment: Scenes taken from “A Gum’s Life” (left), “Cause of Death,” made by Lizzie Barcay
’07 (center), and “Transatlantique,” made by Lucas Foster ’13. (right), three of four films sent to Spain for the
International Debut By Alex Gura For the first time in school history, four student films will be screened at an international film festival. The Barcelona International TV Festival requested three films be sent to the festival, all of which will be screened from Nov. 16-18. One of the films sent, titled “Never Again” by Jessica Lee ’08, has been entered into a competition with dozens of others from across the globe for a UNICEF prize. These prizes are given by the United Nations to films that reinforce ethical and humanitarian values; such films as Public Service Announcements or those made to raise awareness for social issues. In past years, films from Hong Kong, Uruguay, Holland, Romania, Lebanon, Iraq and several other countries have been submitted to the competition at the festival. “I am hoping that this festival will lead to international recognition of our video program,” said Visual Arts Head Cheri Gaulke. “My big hope is that it leads to other international film festivals for our program.” The festival contacted Gaulke and requested the films in late summer, much to her surprise. “Before this, I didn’t even know the festival existed,” Gaulke said. “Our films are so good and we have such a reputation that we are being asked by international festivals to send films.” Lee’s film, “Never Again”, which Gaulke said is one of her favorites, is a Public Service Announcement film that raises awareness for genocide in Darfur. “Making good PSAs is hard, and good ones are rare,” Gaulke said. “I don’t want to put down other PSAs, but they just aren’t as good as this.” The film, made in 2007, starts out with stark images of past genocides and death tolls listed next to them. It transitions between stills from the Holocaust, and Rwandan, Cambodian and Serbian geno-
Barcelona International Television Festival, along with “Never Again,” a film directed by Jessica Lee ’08.
Four student-created films were sent to Spain for the Barcelona International TV Festival in late November.
cides until it reaches a picture from the genocide in Darfur, with large red letters stating 150,000 people killed “so far.” Another film in the same category, “Cause of Death,” by Lizzie Barcay ’07, is also a Public Service Announcement, spreading awareness of the dangers of teen suicide. Filmed entirely in the Upper School quad, the short shows various students standing in front of the camera with different causes of death painted on their palms, with the final shot displaying a girl with a blood smeared hand, representing suicide. The shot afterwards explains that suicide takes more teenage lives than all other causes combined. Debuting at the 2005 Harvard-Westlake Film Festival, it won the Best Directing and Best Overall Film awards that year. A third film, “Transatlantique,” by Lucas Foster ’13, was also requested specifically by the Children’s Television Film Festival. “Transatlantique,” a film about a brother and sister separated by a divorce, concerns their day together when one comes back from France to America to visit. “I think the film was chosen for the festival because it’s an example of teenagers dedicating their time to execute a project,” said Foster. “Content-wise, it’s alternative in the way that the French language is integrated into the film, and I believe that the characters are ones that most would connect to.” Gaulke also asked if she could send in a fourth film, “A Gum’s Life,” about a day in the life of a pack of chewing gum. It was one of the first animations produced at the summer film program. “I thought about what people at the festival would be interested in,” said Gaulke. “I saw lots of animations, so I decided to send in one.” One challenge in sending the films to Spain was that every film would have to be subtitled in Spanish. For the task, Gaulke recruited Spanish teachers Joaquin Fernandez-Castro and Margot Riemer. However, Gaulke found that subtitling wasn’t as easy
“
I am hoping that this festival will lead to international recognition of our video program.”
—Cheri Gaulke Upper School Visual Arts Department Head
as she thought. “If you were going to translate the song ‘Rain in Spain’ from My Fair Lady into Spanish, it wouldn’t work, or rhyme, or make sense. You have to manipulate the words,” said Gaulke. “[Subtitling] was a slower process than I thought. It took me about six hours to do the translation of an eight-minute movie,” Fernandez-Castro explained. “A ‘literal’ translation is never a good translation. The best translation is the one that captures the ‘spirit’ of what is being said in one language and culture into a different language and culture.” Gaulke said that Fernandez-Castro’s expertise is further increased by his roots. “Since Joaquin is a Spaniard, it makes him especially helpful,” said Gaulke. “He knows idioms and phrases from Spain and used by Spaniards that allow the films to have more fluid subtitles,” she said. Even before the Barcelona festival has started, more invitations have already come; for instance, The New York International Children’s Festival has recently requested that the visual arts department send in films to screen. “Regardless of winning an award or not,” Fernandez-Castro said, “it will show the artistic talent of our students internationally. But I hope for the best.”
4 alums act, direct, light new play By Mary Rose Fissinger
all photos re printed with permission of Adam Howard ’93
ACTING OUT: Howard ’93 (left) and Isaac Laskin ’98 (right) stare at an attractive customer from in a restaurant (top). Isaac Laskin ’98 (left) and Adam Howard ’93 (right) deal with complications (bottom).
An alumni-directed play opening Friday night and running through October stars two alumni who are now faculty. A fourth is handling the lighting. Upper school English teacher Adam Howard ’93, middle school history teacher Isaac Laskin ’98, and alums Dan Fishbach ’94 and Will Adashek ’01 are working together on Nicky Silver’s “The Maiden’s Prayer.” “Essentially, the play examines the inter-relationships of five complex individuals — siblings, life-long friends, spouses, new friends, ex-lovers — all in search of ideal love. The main action ranges from quirky comedy to varying losses that exist on a pretty epic scale,” Howard said. Howard has acted with Fishbach in several shows at HarvardWestlake (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Hair” and “Gypsy”) and
at Kenyon College, where they both were undergrads. After college, Fishbach decided to switch his attention to directing. “I tried briefly to make it as an actor, with minor success. I realized that my interest and arguably my talent was directing,” Fishbach said. Fishbach directed Howard in “Private Eyes,” at the end of last summer. “We enjoyed working together and decided to collaborate on another production,” Howard said. “When I heard that Adam and Dan were putting up a play, I jumped at the chance to be a part of it,” Laskin said. Fishbach directed Laskin in a one-act play as a part of Ted Walch’s Summer Intensive Acting Workshop in 1999. Laskin was involved in performing arts when he was a student at Harvard-Westlake. “The first show I ever did was called ‘The Diviners,’” which they
are actually doing again this year at the middle school, when I was in ninth grade. Once I moved on to the Upper School I kept at it, doing six shows in my three years there. I was exceptionally lucky to have gotten to work with Ted Walch, who remains to this day the finest acting teacher I have ever had,” Laskin said. Laskin has returned to the campus recently – this time as a history teacher. He is filling in for Rosemary Van Vlijmen, teaching seventh and ninth grade history. “It’s very cool to get to experience Harvard-Westlake from a teacher’s perspective. It has made me appreciate just how hard my teachers worked... how dedicated they were to my educational experience,” Laskin said. Along with actors Howard and Laskin and director Fishbach, Adashek is the lighting designer. He was involved in the technical aspects of shows in high school.