Wednesday, October 30, 1996
FILM:
Alumna concerned that film school changes will stifle creative
processBy Emily Forster
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Film is normally looked at as a collaborative medium. Most
producers, directors and editors only produce, direct and edit,
respectively.
But occasionally an independent filmmaker like UCLA alumna Nina
Menkes takes on the whole project.
"I think what’s pretty unusual is that I produce, direct, shoot
and edit my own movies," says Menkes. "Some people who hear this
may think, ‘Oh , it must be really sloppy.’ But the films are
really highly crafted."
A good example of her carefully crafted films is "The Bloody
Child," an exploration of society’s fascination with violence that
has garnered astounding critical praise for its dynamic
presentation of an important social issue.
Described by the L.A. Times as "an awe-inspiring, rigorous work
of art on the highest level," and summarized by Menkes as "a film
about an experience of internalized violence," the film was
inspired by a real incident concerning a U.S. marine.
"He had just returned from the Gulf War and was found in the
middle of the Mojave Desert digging a grave for his dead wife, who
was in his car," says Menkes. "I used this incident to get into a
kind of surreal mind trip about our culture’s fascination with
violence. It’s a critique of the idea that many people think
violence is a solution to their problems."
Playing tonight at the Nuart, the film is a successful result of
the independent filmmaking education Menkes received at UCLA.
"The thing that was fabulous about UCLA when I was there was
that it was a completely free atmosphere," recalls Menkes. "I
didn’t have to take unnecessary classes  I just made my
films. The first year they had some real basic classes like basic
cinematography and basic sound. But once you had taken those, you
were really free to do whatever you wanted. So I made ‘The Great
Sadness’ and ‘Magdalena,’ and both films won awards."
Menkes feels fortunate to have experienced this type of film
education. She realizes that not all film students were allowed as
much freedom as Menkes and her classmates were granted at UCLA’s
School of Theater, Film and Television.
"At USC they teach people how to make Hollywood films," says
Menkes. "It’s all really structured and they teach you the system
of how to make films. If you got out of USC and someone said ‘You
should make a film by yourself,’ they’d just go ‘You’re on drugs.’
But because I went to UCLA, I learned to be independent and kept on
being independent."
Unfortunately, with the recent change in UCLA’s film school
curriculum, Menkes feels that students are getting an education
closer to USC’s than to UCLA’s. UCLA film students are taught more
about studio filmmaking than they have in the past, and, according
to Menkes, this is a shame.
"They’ve made it more rigid and like USC in terms of forcing
students to take a certain curriculum and to make films a certain
length," explains Menkes. "Today they’re prepared for a different
kind of filmmaking that doesn’t leave very much room for creativity
and originality."
Luckily, Menkes benefitted from a UCLA education that enhanced
her independent film ambitions. She realizes that if she learned to
make her films under the guidance of studio-film encouraging
professors, she would not be where she is today.
"No studio would let me make the films I make. And if I hadn’t
gone to UCLA, I wouldn’t have made these films."
The Nuart is doing a retrospective of Menkes’s films. On Nov. 2
at noon, her first film, "Magdalena Viraga," will be shown. On Nov.
3 at noon, Menkes’s "The Great Sadness of Zohara," will be screened
with "Queen of Diamonds." Menkes’s current feature, "The Bloody
Child," can be seen at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 this weekend in the
morning.
UCLA film students are taught more about studio filmmaking than
they have in the past …