Monday, June 8, 1998
Aesthetic alternative
FILM: UCLA filmmaker Robin Larsen
finds cinematic success with her surreal,
Student Academy Award-winning ‘Sombra’
By Michelle Baran
Daily Bruin Contributor
Robin Larsen’s first-quarter film assignment: write a
screenplay. Second quarter, edit it. Third, produce it. So what the
hell, why not submit it to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and
Sciences? Hey, don’t stop there. Go ahead and win a Student Academy
Award. So she did.
"I’m a little nervous about seeing the other films, because I
have a feeling that a lot of them might either be thesis films or
their final project," graduate student Larsen says. "Mine was done
with very little money, and we did what we could, and we shot it in
four days."
Despite her skepticism, Larsen was one of 12 film students in
the United States to win a Student Academy Award. Her film,
"Sombra", which she wrote, edited, co-produced, directed and
starred in, won the gold medal in the alternative category. Despite
the fact that each category can have up to three winners, she was
the sole recipient.
"The fact that, this year, there is only one award in the
alternative category, means that the Academy members who viewed
those films that were submitted as national finalists from each of
the regions, felt that only Robin’s film was one that was worthy of
receiving an award," says Leslie Unger, publicity director at the
Academy of Motion Pictures.
A combination of artistic hunger and vivid memories of the
mystic Santa Ria religion of Florida’s Puerto Rican culture drove
Larsen to create "Sombra."
The movie depicts a dying woman’s haunting memory of a spirit’s
hold on her child. Enhanced by scattered flashbacks, the story
begins with the woman’s death in her old age, then retreats into
her memoirs of a tragic past. In a matter of 12 minutes, the
audience shockingly encounters three deaths: that of the mother’s
unborn child, the suicide of her eight-year-old estranged son and
finally her own death.
"It is very dark, and when people see it their reaction is ‘Oh’,
and that’s really exactly what I wanted," Larsen says. "Throughout
the movie you start out with that as your objective. And when
you’re so into it and you’re in production, and then you’re editing
for months and months, you sort of completely lose sight of what
your end result is, or what you want the audience to feel. Then
when they actually feel that way, it’s like, ‘Oh wow. I meant that
to happen. That’s really cool.’"
Larsen’s fiancee, David Colclasure, worked with her on the film
as co-producer, director of photography and assistant editor. In
order for the film to technically qualify as a student film, Larsen
needed to have produced it under the supervision of a professor or
administrator at UCLA. Her overseer was the vice chair of
production at UCLA, Gyula Gazdag.
Ultimately, she would like to see herself behind the camera
directing films, yet be able to bounce back into the theater world,
which was her initial focus. She would even want to act every once
in a while. Larsen stresses the importance of being interactively
involved in both theater and film production, which means not
limiting oneself to one side of the camera, and allowing for a
deeper balance between acting and directing.
Overall, Larsen says her experience here has been a positive
one. Having met many people that share her level of genuine
enthusiasm about filmmaking has encouraged Larsen to shoot for her
dream.
Larsen, who fell in love with directing while at UCLA, claims
that the only drawback of the UCLA film program is that it doesn’t
necessarily gear the students for the real, and often harsh, world
of filmmaking. She thinks that more interaction between film
students and people who have access to the industry would help
students get going in their careers.
Larsen, who reeled in her own success with a bait made of
confidence and ambition, has an edge that most students coming out
of college don’t get.
Rich Miller, director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, explains, "I think this award helps in several ways.
First, above and beyond the contacts and everything else, just the
moral support that this gives to a filmmaker, who’s probably going
to have some rough times, going to be beating the pavement, even if
they won this award, and trying to get a job in an industry where
everyone likes to say ‘No.’ Knowing that the Academy membership’s
seen something you’ve done and likes it, maybe it keeps you in
there pushing a little harder for a little longer."
Larsen’s goals in filmmaking, however, transcend Hollywood
fascination with fame and fortune. However idealistic her
aspirations may seem, Larsen hopes to pursue her artistic endeavor
without being derailed by other temptations in the industry. She
has already begun a new project, continuing her involvement with
alternative expressionism in film making.
"I want to take the audience to a new place that they’ve never
been before, challenge their imagination," Larsen says. "I have no
desire to shoot about ‘boy meets girl’, or a struggle between a
daughter and a mother or whatever people can see in their real
life, or on TV.
"I want to do something more surreal, and that deals with a
topic that not a lot of people know about," she continues. "(A
film) where my personal expression and the visual aesthetic is more
important than, necessarily, the story that’s being told."
FILM: The 25th-Annual Student Academy Awards ceremony will be
held on Sunday, at the Academy in Beverly Hills. The ceremony is
free and open to the public, but tickets are required. For tickets
call
(310) 247-3000, ext. 129.Photo Courtesy of Robin Larsen
"Sombra" is the surreal vision of a dying woman’s haunting
memory of her child.
GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin
UCLA film student Robin Larsen won a Student Academy Award for
her picture, "Sombra".