YSFF 2015 Program Guide by The Yale Film Alliance

The

Y S F F

a l e

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;15

tu d e n t

i l m

es t i v a l

March 27th â&#x20AC;&#x201D; March 29th, 2015 Yale University, New Haven, CT

Welcome The Yale Film Alliance 2014-2015 Board Dara Eliacin Branford ‘15 YFA President

Charlotte Juergens

Silliman ‘16 YFA Treasurer Yale Film Society Liaison

Conor Bagley Silliman ‘16 YFA Social Chair

Iason Togias

Trumbull ‘16 YFA Webmaster Yale Film Society Liaison

Katrina Ungewitter

Dear Friends, Faculty, and Filmmakers, We are so thrilled to be hosting the first ever Yale Student Film Festival! When the idea was first brought up about a year ago, it seemed to be only wishful thinking. However, the festival is now a reality, thanks in part to the generosity and advice of numerous faculty and staff on Yale’s campus. In particular, various members of the Yale College Dean’s Office, The Yale Film and Media Studies Program, Films at The Whitney, and The Digital Media Center for the Arts. In deciding our program for this innaugral festival, The Yale Film Alliance turned its attention towards highlighting the small, but ever-growing community of Yale filmmakers. The films screened over the course of this weekend are just a small sampling of the creativity and talent current Yalies and alumni have been bringing to the big screen. They are representative of the filmmaking potential here at Yale, and work that is getting better with each passing year. We hope you enjoy the Yale Student Film Festival!

Pierson‘16 YFA Public Relations Project Lens Liaison

Travis Gonzalez

Trumbull ‘16 Festival Coordinator Bulldog Productions Liaison

The 2014-2015 Yale Film Alliance Board

The Films The following films represent completed and work-in-progress material from current Undergraduates, Graduate Students, and Alumni of Yale University.

OPENING SCREENING Friday, March 27th , 8:00pm — The Whitney Humanities Center

Acceptance

All films are screened on BluRay.

Judges Sandra Luckow

Johannes DeYoung

Filmmaker Faculty Yale School of Art

Critic Lead Admin Yale School of Art

Singapore, 2013, 50 min., color

Brian Price

Lee Faulkner

Screenwriter Faculty UCLA

Associate Director DMCA

Special Thanks The Yale College Dean’s Office

Susan Cahan Associate Dean for the Arts

Derek Webster Admin Coordinator Arts

Films at The Whitney

Ronald Gregg Senior Lecturer Programming Director (Film Studies Program)

The Digital Media Center for the Arts

Lee Faulkner Associate Director

Louisa de Cossy Technical Specialist

“Acceptance” is a 50-minute international film based on a true story about a scholar from India who lies about getting into Harvard. It’s a story about ambition, self-doubt, competition among friends and facing failure. It takes audiences into the world of elite international schools comprised of the world’s richest and most goal-bound kids.

DIRECTOR: Ryan Matthew Chan PRODUCER: Vishnu Hari SCREENWRITERS: Vishnu Hari, Ryan Mathew Chan PRINCIPAL CAST: Vinesh Nagrani, Ethan Song, Pierre Cassini, Nathan Hartono, Clay Burell, Ann Mayo-Smith

Ryan Matthew Chan The Film Study Center

Tony Sudol Projectionist

is an American filmmaker of Eurasian descent born and raised in Singapore. He graduated from Yale University in 2015 with a double major in Film Studies and Economics. In 2011, Chan served as the Director of Photography for an independent feature film called The Durian King starring renowned Singaporean actor Lim Kay Tong. Chan drew most of his inspiration for “Acceptance” from his upbringing at the Singapore American School.

Vishnu Hari

is a Canadian screenwriter of Indian descent raised in Singapore who graduated from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) where he received the Lee Suan Yew Speaker of the Year award. He received his degree in Astrophysics and Economics from the University of Toronto in 2015. Hari acted in and co-wrote several of Chan’s short films during their final year of high school. Hari’s love for writing comes from observing his father who is a published novelist.

Screening One Saturday, March 28th , 2:00pm — The Whitney Humanities Center

And Then

The Panhandle

In Our City:

The Killing of Tamir Rice

Graduate, Experimental, 2014, 1 min., color

Undergraduate, Narrative, 2014, 5 min., color

Undergraduate, Documentary, 2015, 9 min., color

“And Then” is a playful take on the passing of time.

In this short comedy film, a Yale student has trouble deciding whether or not to give a “homeless” man money.

Residents of Cleveland reflect on the death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed by the police while playing with a toy gun in a public park.

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Livia Ungur & Shern Lee Huang PRODUCER: Livia Ungur & Shern Lee Huang

DIRECTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER: Benjy Steinberg PRINCIPAL CAST: Sean Sullivan, Michael Lazris, Alicia Lovelace

DIRECTOR: Anamika Veeramani PRODUCER: Zach Schwartz

Livia Ungur & Sherng Lee Huang Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang have collaborated on film and art

projects since 2014. Their short film “Prodigal” was featured in the 2015 Black Maria Film Festival. They live and work in New York City. Livia was born in Communist Romania, grew up there after the revolution, and as an adult came to America. She earned her BFA in studio art at Hunter College and her MFA in video and sculpture at Yale School of Art. At Yale, she was awarded an Alice Kimball English Traveling Fellowship. Born and raised in Tennessee, Sherng-Lee graduated from Amherst College. He directed the short films “I Could Be With Anyone” (official selection of the SXSW Film Festival) and “Two Tones” (screened at NewFilmmakers NYC and viewed over 590,000 times on YouTube). He formerly directed the web comedy group Quiet Library, with over 22 million views on YouTube. The duo’s next project is a feature length narrative film called “Hotel Dallas.” Learn more at http://ungur-huang.com/

Benjy Steinberg

is a sophomore in Morse College. He is a director, screenwriter, producer, and cinematographer. One of Benjy’s short films, Running Colors, became an Official Selection at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. He has studied film production at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. He also worked in story development at The Dan Jinks Company and Sonar Entertainment in Los Angeles. In his free time, he enjoys playing jazz and funk saxophone, reading, and watching a smorgasbord of movies.

Anamika Veeramani

is a freshman at Yale University (MC ‘18) from Cleveland, Ohio, studying biological sciences. She has experience in radio and video broadcast, and is currently involved with Yale Bulldog Productions and the BP Screenwriters Trust. IN OUR CITY is her first short documentary film.

Zach Schwartz

was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He currently lives in New York City, studying Earth Science at Columbia University, CC ‘16. He is a contributor at VICE, covering hip-hop, crime, and culture.

Screening One (contin.) Saturday, March 28th , 2:00pm — The Whitney Humanities Center

Faster

Cal, The Writer

Pagliacci

Undergraduate, Narrative 2014, 7 min., color

Alumnus, Documentary, 2014, 6 min., color

Graduate, Documentary, 2014, 8 min., color

A young man in love desperately tries to literally keep up with his athletic crush. Constantly outmatched by another running mate, he enlists training help from an unlikely source.

When Cal was born, his mother and father were told he would never walk or talk. Apparently no one passed this info along to Cal. He is now a freshman in college and a playwright, recently awarded by the Kennedy Center for a monologue.

This experimental documentary features Rick “The Boy Diva” Cataldo, an indie professional wrestler who plays a flamboyantly gay villain in the ring.

DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Benjamin Boult

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Livia Ungur & Shern Lee Huang PRODUCER: Livia Ungur & Shern Lee Huang PRINCIPAL CAST: Rick “The Boy Diva” Cataldo

DIRECTOR: Jackie Ferro PRODUCER: Kendall Teare SCREENWRITERS: Brian Li PRINCIPAL CAST: Alex Swanson, Luz Lopz, Andrew Evren, Eric Williams

Jackie Ferro

Writer, director, fast-talker, cartwheeler, a cappella singer, rock climber, ballroom dancer, horse whisperer, reptile breeder, hippopotamus wrestler, part-time astronaut. An aspiring Film Studies (B.A.) and Computer Science (B.S.) double major from New York, Jackie Ferro loves making ridiculous films with some of her closest friends at Yale. When not putting men into tiny dresses and filling condoms with fake blood, she can be found rehearsing with Out of the Blue a cappella, working on various theatrical productions, and putting Nutella inside ice-cream cones in the Branford dining hall.

Kendall Teare

is the Special Event Coordinator for Bulldog Productions. She is responsible for organizing screenings, workshops, and bringing film related alumni to campus. This is her first year in this position, and previously, she was the producer for the Freshman Project short film, Down to Earth, and the screenwriter and producer for the short film Two Kinds of People. She is currently serving as Co-Director of Photography on the short superhero film, Captain Invincible is Dead. Outside BP, Kendall is a co-manager of the Morse College Buttery, the Morsel, and she plans to major in English.

Ben Boult

is the director of Cal, the writer as well as the writer, director, and editor of Tranquility, which he completed in Spring 2014 as his senior thesis project for the Yale University film production program. Since directing his first shorts while attending high school in Baltimore, MD, Mr. Boult has directed over 20 short films, and since graduating in 2014, has worked professionally in film production in and around New York City, primarily within the camera and grip and electric departments.

*The films contains mature language.

Livia Ungur & Sherng Lee Huang Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang have collaborated on film and art

Screening One (contin.) Saturday, March 28th , 2:00pm — The Whitney Humanities Center

Ready

Somnia

The Note

Undergraduate, Narrative 2014, 5 min., color

Alumnus, Narrative 2011, 8 min., color

Undergraduate, Narrative 2015, 9 min., color

One man prepares his breakfast, while three others prepare his demise. Sponsored by the Yale Creative and Performing Arts Award. Made possible through the generosity and guidance of the DMCA and its staff.

Sam just can’t seem to get to sleep.

After Jen can’t find the courage to break up with Dan, life gets a bit out of hand...

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Daniel Matyas PRODUCER: Dara Eliacin PRINCIPAL CAST: Andre Allen, Jordan Schroeder, Alex Cadena, Leonard Thomas

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Ben Boult PRINCIPAL CAST: Gabriel Greenspan, Mark Sonnenblick

DIRECTOR: Ryan Kline & Julia Myers PRODUCER: Dara Eliacin SCREENWRITERS: Erica Leh PRINCIPAL CAST: Alexander Michaud & Macrina Cooper-White

Daniel Matyas

is a junior at Yale University and has been making short films for eight years. Daniel’s previous work includes Cut All Expenses and Boom, both of which were Official Selections of South by Southwest. He has spent the last two summers working in feature development and hopes to one day work as a narrative feature director.

Dara Eliacin

has been producing theatre and short films since high school and, now in her senior year at Yale, continues to find the trials and tribulations of producing exciting. When not sending emails, navigating dozens of Google Calendars, or sitting in meetings as the President of the Yale Film Alliance, Dara also enjoys screenwriting.

Ben Boult

Ryan Kline

is a senior in Berkeley College from Dallas, Texas. Previous film works have screened at the Dallas International Film Festival, National Film Festival for Talented Youth, and SXSW.

Julia Myers

graduated from Yale University in 2012 and currently works as a post-producer and editor at Discovery Communications. She actively writes, directs and edits shorts in her off-work time and loves coming back to Yale to work with current filmmaking students.

Screening Two Saturday, March 28th , 5:00pm — The Whitney Humanities Center

Lost & Found

The Listening Party

Undergraduate, Narrative 2014, 4 min., color, silent

Graduate, Experimental, 2014, 10 min., color

Lost and Found presents an unnamed college girl who leaves her watch in a library and returns to find it replaced with an umbrella. Confused, she takes the umbrella, and it soon helps her in an unexpected way. As she goes about her day, she continues to encounter random objects that turn out to be very helpful, but will she ever find her watch?

The Listening Party re-shapes footage from music documentaries to tell a new story. Through editing and voiceover, British rock icons Charlie Watts and Robert Plant are cast as Nicu and Norel, two men charting paths of resistance in Communist Romania. The story revolves around secret “listening parties,” where factory workers play albums smuggled in from the West.

DIRECTOR: Emily Murphy PRODUCER: Russell Cohen SCREENWRITERS: Shelby Daniels-Young PRINCIPAL CAST: Stefanie Fernandez

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Livia Ungur & Shern Lee Huang PRODUCER: Livia Ungur & Shern Lee Huang

Emily Murphy

Yale Undergrad, Branford, sophomore, Film & Media Studies major. Other information: YCC Videographer, born and raised in Seattle and Chicago, coffee addict, pizza lover, follower of Jesus. She loved working on Lost and Found with friends, old and new, to make a fun and entertaining short film.

Russell Cohen

is a Sophomore in Jonathan Edwards College from Cleveland. He’s a Film & Media Studies and History double major, the vice-president of Bulldog Productions, and a proud (trombone-playing) member of the Yale Precision Marching Band. It was such a blast to make this movie with some of my good friends in the Yale film community coming to support our work and all of the amazing projects and people here this weekend!

Livia Ungur & Sherng Lee Huang Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang have collaborated on film and art

The D’Port Dive

Undergraduate, Narrative, 2014, 18 min., color Made on-location in the Davenport College Buttery. A film exploring student life and conversation at Yale. Shot in a single take, the film consists of non-linear conversations that are taken from several instances from transcribed speech in real life, offering an experimental look at an ordinary several minutes in a Yale student’s life.

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Ezriel Gelbfish PRODUCERS: Ezriel Gelbfish & Raleigh Capozzalo PRINCIPAL CAST: Ezriel Gelbfish, Robert Yaman, Luz Lopez, Ruchit Nagar, Divyansh Agarwal, Alcindor Leadon, Yuval Ben-David, Stefanie Kuo, Simone Policano, Jaime Halberstam

Ezriel Gelbfish

is an actor and director focusing on one-shot films and slice-of-life realism in contemporary college settings. A junior in Davenport majoring in Ethics, Politics, Economics with a double in Film Studies, Ezriel is interested in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, French literature, and North American Jewish culture. Aside from film, Ezriel creates visual art, plays guitar, and writes poetry. His art is currently on permanent commission at the Slifka Center at Yale, the Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, and AIDS Project New Haven, among other institutions.

Screening Two (contin.) Saturday, March 28th , 5:00pm — The Whitney Humanities Center

Restore the Villages:

Remediating Gender Violence in Eastern Congo

Undergraduate, Documentary, 2014, 9 min., color, A short documentary detailing the ongoing conflict in Eastern Congo, the effects it has had on Eastern Congolese communities, and the steps a non-profit organization is taking to heal villages in which mass rape has occurred.

DIRECTOR: Benjy Steinberg & Andrey Tolstoy PRODUCER: Benjy Steinberg

Benjy Steinberg

Andrey Tolstoy

is a fourth year PhD student in Film and Media Studies and Comparative Literature. Apart from dissertation work on ethnographic and other types of documentary film, he has produced a number of nonfiction shorts. He is actively involved in the Yale Visual Law Project and was a teaching fellow for the Documentary Film Workshop.

Harold

Undergradauate, Narrative, 2014, 15 min., color A new opera film about one man’s fantastic struggle with his childhood and reality.

DIRECTOR: John Chirikjian(film), Jordan Plotner(Opera) PRODUCERS: Gian-Paul Bergeron, Dara Eliacin, Jordan Plotner SCREENWRITERS: Gian-Paul Bergeron PRINCIPAL CAST: Hunter Taylor, William Viederman, Marc Cameron, Michelle McGregor, Otis Blum, Jonathan Adler John Chirikjian is the director and co-creator of Harold. An independent filmmaker, he specializes in corporate film advertising and studio photography. His past films, including Sic Semper, have won acclaim at various film festivals. He has experience in directing wedding film productions and served as host for the Gilman 2012-13 Annual Film Festival. John is currently a sophomore at Yale University.

Jordan Plotner

is an award-winning sophomore composer at Yale University. His music has been performed globally in New York, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur and Malta and has appeared on television shows on FOX and TLC. He graduated from the American School in London in 2012 and was a member of the Royal Academy of Music Junior Jazz Program.

Gian-Paul Bergeron

is a sophomore at Yale and the writer and co-creator of Harold. He enjoys acting, writing and directing and is a proud member of The Control Group, Yale’s experimental theater group and The Good Show, Yale’s only live late-night comedy talk show. He loves children’s books, words and sleeping. He likes his eyebrows, especially in this picture. In his spare time, he can be found reading fairy tales or laughing at his own jokes. He’d love it if, later today, you looked at something mundane in your life with a lens of wonder and try to see how marvelous it really is.

Screening Three Saturday, March 28th , 7:30pm — The Whitney Humanities Center

The Emotional Dimensions of the James River

Long Shot

Undergraduate, Experimental 2014, 3 min., color

Alumnus, Narrative, 2013, 18 min., color

An emotional roller coaster experience that was musically and visually designed based on a neuroscience research project that correlates a mathematical parameter (fractal dimension) of sounds and images with the selective triggering of emotional states. Enlighten yourself by looking at the world from your personal point of view while dreaming inside your curiosity.

Spyke, a college freshman cinephile, enters his Introduction to Filmmaking class firmly believing that his submission will be an unprecedented homage to Seven Samurai, despite his lack of experience. As Spyke’s struggle to cinematically revive the Japanese Edo period conflicts with project partner Nicki’s pragmatism and roommate Ed’s delinquency, he must re-evaluate his artistic purpose.

DIRECTOR: Michelle Marquez PRODUCER: Samantha Marquez SCREENWRITERS: Michelle Marquez

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Jason Cody Douglass PRODUCERS: Sara Stalla, Allison Kolberg PRINCIPAL CAST: John Griswold, Alicia Seelaus, Jordan Ascher

Michelle Marie Marquez

is a fifteen-year-old sophomore at the Math & Science High School at Clover Hill in Midlothian, VA. Michelle discovered the mathematical structure of sounds that triggers selective emotions. Michelle is an award-winning scientist at the Metro Richmond STEM Fair, Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, and a First Place & Best of Category winner in Behavioral Science at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles, California. She was interviewed by Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN’s “Vital Signs” about her award-winning research. She is also the founder of an Out-of-the-Box neuroscience initiative that explores a transdisciplinary blend of Arts and STEM fields looking for a place “Where Science Meets Art”.

Samantha Marie Marquez

is a 19 year old young innovator, scientist, entrepreneur, activist and Freshman at Yale University majoring in Neuroscience. Samantha began working in university research labs when she was 12 years old. As a middle school student, she developed a new process for the self-assembly of living cells in a new structure she named “Celloidosomes®.” In late 2011, Samantha was inducted into the National Gallery of Young Inventors, winning the 2011 Thomas Edison Innovation Award. In October 2012, she won 1st Place in Research at the International Space Olympics in Russia and in January 2013 she was named one of the four National Winners of the Neuroscience Research Prize presented by the American Academy of Neurology. This work has led to seven patent applications and several published papers in scientific journals.

Jason Cody Douglass

After graduation, Jason became a Parker Huang Fellow and spent a year studying Japanese language and cinema at the Inter-University Center in Yokohama. He has since moved to Los Angeles to explore the West Coast film scene with his fiancé, and his preoccupation with written and oral translation for East Asian art initiatives and film festivals has traveled along with him.

Honorable Discharge?

Graduate, Documentary, 2015, 5 min., color Under US law, minor offenses such as misdemeanors committed by non-citizens can result in deportation. Until recently, veterans of the armed forces had only been deported in extreme cases, such as homicide, but the situation is changing. “Honorable Discharge?” is a glimpse into the life of Arnold Giammarco, who was deported by ICE for a misdemeanor he committed years prior and for which he had already served time.

DIRECTOR: Filmmakers of Yale Visual Law Project PRODUCER: The Yale Visual Law Project

The Yale Visual Law Project

is a collective drawn from the Law School, programs across the university, and a wide community of affiliates. The aim of the group is to use visual media to advocate and explore social causes from a legal perspective. VLP has produced short films on immigration detention, privacy, veterans affairs and other topical issues.

Screening Three (contin.) Saturday, March 28th , 7:30pm — The Whitney Humanities Center

Tranquility

Wish You Were Here

Alumnus, Narrative, 2014, 16 min., color

Alumnus, Narrative, 2015, Trailer, color

An astronomer discovers a comet that will destroy Earth, but is ordered to keep the discovery secret by the government, who claim releasing such news could cause civil disorder.

Hot shot Harvard grad Adam Getz is forced to move back in with his parents when his wealthy Wall Street employer is exposed as a Madoff-esque con artist. While stuck in his sleepy hometown, Adam undergoes a humbling transformation as he reconnects with a ragtag group of jobless peers and an old flame. Set against the backdrop of the dismal job market facing today’s college grads, “Wish You Were Here” shows us their new reality of dashed dreams, missed opportunities, and second chances.

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Ben Boult PRINCIPAL CAST: Derek Cooper, Thom Sinn

DIRECTOR/WRITER: Austin Kase PRODUCER: Louisa de Cossy PRINCIPAL CAST: Celeste Arias, Aaron Profumo, Jessica DiGiovanni, Tayler Beth Anderson, Zackary Bryant, Erica Cho

Ben Boult

Austin Kase

is an award-winning writer, director, and editor of short and feature films, music videos, and commercials. He graduated from Yale College in 2011. His projects have been featured at film festivals across the country. Austin received 2 Telly Awards and an Internet Advertising Competition Award for “Why Music?”, a promotional video he wrote and directed for the Yale School of Music. He’s worked with Oscar-nominated actor James Franco, Oscar-winning film producer Roger Corman, Emmy-winning composer Garth Neustadter, and Grammy-winning recording artist Paul Simon.

Louisa de Cossy

has fifteen years of experience in photography and film production and is a graduate cum laude from UC Berkeley’s Art Practice Department where she specialized in art film production. After graduating, Louisa completed a directing and screenwriting program at the Berkeley Digital film Institute and then worked at the Saul Zaentz media center where she helped to run the Film Institute. During that time Louisa consulted on the production and development of films such as Zaytoun, Witness11, IOU, Up Pohnpei and most recently Wish You Were Here.

Schedule

FRIDAY (March 27th)

5:00pm-6:00pm

Producing Workshop with Bruce Cohen (WHC B-04)

*Asterisks indicate that the film is competing for prizes

SATURDAY (March 28th)

12:30pm-1:30pm

Filmmaker Roundtable (WHC B-04)

Academy Award winner and Yale alum Bruce Cohen will be hosting a workshop for students interested in learning more about producing films.

A filmmakers’ roundtable featuring some of the directors, producers, and cinematographers from this year’s YSFF official selections.

Space is limited. RSVP only.

In the style of The Hollywood Reporter’s annual awards roundtables, Yale Film Alliance President Dara Eliacin will be moderating the one hour panel discussing what it’s like to be a filmmaker at Yale.

6:00pm-8:00pm

Opening Reception

(Whitney Humanities Center) The Yale Student Film Festival will be kicking off with an opening reception in the Whitney Humanities Center from 6-8pm. Academy Award winner and Yale alum Bruce Cohen will be giving welcoming remarks at the catered reception. RSVP only. This is your chance to meet your fellow filmmakers!

8:00pm-9:00pm

Opening Screening: Acceptance (Whitney Humanities Center)

Directed by Ryan Chan (ES ‘15), “Acceptance” is a 50-minute international film based on a true story about a scholar from India who lies about getting into Harvard. Open to the public.

Open to the Public.

2:00pm-3:00pm

Screening One

(Whitney Humanities Center) And Then* The Panhandle* In Our City: The Killing of Tamir Rice* Faster* Cal, The Writer* Pagliacci* Ready* Somnia The Note* Open to the Public.

5:00pm-6:00pm

Screening Two

(Whitney Humanities Center) Lost & Found The Listening Party The D’Port Dive* Restore the Villages: Remediating Gender Violence in Eastern Congo* Harold* Open to the Public.

7:30pm-8:30pm

Screening Three

(Whitney Humanities Center) The Emotional Dimensions of The James River Long Shot Honorable Discharge? Tranquility* Wish You were Here Open to the Public.

SUNDAY (March 29th)

11:00am-1:00pm

Closing Reception

(Whitney Humanities Center) Distribution of Awards. Coffee and Pastries will be served. Open to Filmmakers, Faculty, and Cast/Crew.