InQua Magazine was accepted as press to the 2018 Catalina Film Festival. This gem of an island just west of Long Beach and Los Angeles is a short boat or flight over. Schroeder and I put up with a hint of sea sickness to enjoy the beautiful island and film festival! On the red carpet, we met and interview Richard Dreyfuss, Ashanti, Rob Riggle, London Brown, and many others, so keep an eye out for the videos which are being put up as we speak.
We have a list of the most memorable films and shorts below, and we also uploaded all the interviews to our YouTube Channel. You can see all the videos SOON here as well.
White River Tales
White River Tales was a 28-minute short film screened at Catalina Film Festival. Based in a little town in the 80s-90s, the movie focuses on Ned Hope, played by Ramsay Phillips. Ned epitomizes a young afflicted father trying to bring his little family out of desperation and into better circumstances. He receives the startling news that his mom is involved in a major car accident, and has to rush to the hospital. As fate would have it, the driver at fault is none other than his old high school friend Tommy, played by Jacob Osborne. Ned and Tommy’s criminal past adds depth and stress to the story, and leaves the audience waiting on baited breath for the hero to make his choice. Does he take a higher road for the safety of his future, or take justice into his own hands for the sake of his family?
The director, Stephen Ohl, and some the cast were eager to answer questions about the short film and their ideas. Personally, I feel White River Tales was a proof of concept short film, and as such it should be seen as such. It was as intense as it was fast-paced.
I will say it felt a little too fast paced and hard to keep up with at times. In all fairness, how else can a short film be shot? The actors are talented and believable. I love the location for the film. It is beautifully melancholic. The ending scene in a bowling alley is emotionally tumultuous, and it has some very There Will Be Blood vibes. Overall, I’m excited to see what’s next from Ohl, and I wait to see if a feature length film comes from it.
Wandering Eyes
Catalina Film Festival has a string of gritty and dark shorts, and Wandering Eyes definitely fit right in. Director Makan Talayeh delivers his message up front: people cheat. When people cheat, they offended partner is bound to do something crazy.
Built on this premise, Wandering Eyes brings a wild story accompanied by beautiful visuals and remarkable cinematography. When it finished, I was wishing it was a feature and not just a short. I want to know more about the characters, their story, and the results of their hasty choices. In some ways, I felt some Coen Bros. similarities, almost like a Burn After Reading meets Fargo meets something much more gritty and dark. Good performances by the small cast kept this short flowing smoothly and the script tight.
Son to Son
For those who don’t know Jim Meskimen, you actually probably do know Jim Meskimen. Maybe you just know his voice. He’s appeared in nearly 250 productions (per IMDB), and has been in everything from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air to The Punisher (2004), Parks and Recreation to Warcraft (The Video Game). Needless to say, he lends his vocal talents to projects big and small, and in all realms of entertainment. Schroeder recognized him on our boat over as Officer Whoolihan from the Ron Howard directed How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Jim let his writing talents take center stage with the short film Son to Son. Directed by Taron Lexton, Son to Son stole the show as far as shorts went at Catalina Film Festival. It is a fresh take on the cliché premise of a father meeting up with his addict son. In this case, the son is played by Nick Lane, and is clean. Instead, his father is addicted to prescriptions, and is asking his son where he could get some heroin.
Without spoiling anything, Son to Son provides an engaging and palm-sweating short film experience and I want to see what Jim has in the works down the road!
Bridget & Iain
Bridget and Iain is a powerful New Zealand short film! Originally a stage production, the story shows a mother struggling to help her addict son. Vivienne Powell plays mother to Damian Sommerland as her son in and out of rehab. If I could say what the short is like, it looks like the short film predecessor to Ben is Back, but don’t tell my Lucas Hedges-addicted friend that.
The story included Kiwi actors, fantastic lighting, and emotional performances. Love it, love it, love it.
Rider
We met writer and director Aaron Wasserteil on the Friday ferry over to Catalina Island. We got to talking about the short, which is part of the reason we attended the afternoon block of shorts. He and a few friends bootstrapped this dark short film that plays on fears ridesharing has given us.
Aaron told me Rider is a proof of concept short. It was quite a process to get the filming done, and lots of it are done in the dead of night. I get a bit of a Nightcrawler to it, and I definitely think of Rider each time I hop in an Uber.
I hope it gets more buzz and gets picked up soon enough!
Miss Arizona
The big feature film on Friday night following Rob Riggle’s award was Miss Arizona. This was a fun film with great casting and a good story.
The cast and crew was over 70% female (as per IMDB) and the story’s focus was the fact that women can do much more than a misogynist society often expects. The males were as faceless and boring as female characters in much of Hollywood’s films to date, so I suppose it was a fitting contrast. The cast had a great chemistry, the production value boasted a heftier budget than most of what we had seen at Catalina Film Festival, and it is easy to see how this movie could easily be a hit on streaming sites.
The story was creative, albeit all over the place. There’s a women’s shelter, drag queens, borrowing money from wealthy friends and absent spouses, and some odd character interactions. I think that the script and story could have been fleshed out a bit more, especially the driving force for their adventure, but no movie is perfect.
All in all, it was a fun film, and a worthy headliner at 2018’s Catalina Film Festival!
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