Everybody needs a helping hand. And that’s exactly what four UCLA graduate film directing students have received.
Zack Godshall, Miranda Yousef, Michelle Hung and Nicole Haeusser all obtained grants from the Caucus Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to encourage diversity in the entertainment industry.
“The Foundation really has a mandate to help launch the careers of student filmmakers and, specifically, to really focus on under-represented groups in the industry,” said Becky Smith, a filmmaker and a professor in UCLA’s production/directing program.
“I think this is very important for women and students of color, because I think it gives them an opportunity to be recognized for their work,” she added.
To be eligible for the grant, students must be enrolled in an accredited undergraduate, graduate or fellowship film program and working to complete a thesis film for their degree.
In addition, students must apply and provide a detailed synopsis of their work-in-progress, including the final budget, the final script and a crew list. Of all the applicants during the 2005-2006 school year, only 10 students were chosen. Among them were the four filmmakers from UCLA.
Once the 10 students completed their thesis films, the Caucus Foundation’s Annual Awards presented Haeusser and Hung with first and second place distinctions, respectively, for Outstanding Student Film.
“I think this is what every filmmaker wants, to be recognized by their peers,” said Haeusser, who wrote and directed “The Death Strip.” “It’s a very overwhelming experience.”
Her film recounts the ordeal of a Cold War-era family trying to escape East Germany by crossing over to West Germany through the so-dubbed “death strip,” a sort of bordering no-man’s land between the then separated countries. It was shot both in Los Angeles and on location in Berlin.
“Everything went exactly as I wanted,” Haeusser said of the filming process. “The only thing I didn’t think of was that when we were shooting in Berlin it was incredibly cold. You can see that in the film: Everybody was really cold.”
Sometimes the making of a film can be as rewarding as the finished product itself. For Hung, shooting her eight-minute “Chinese Dumplings” provided an opportunity to cement friendships and relationships.
“You get help because you help others,” she said. “I know who my friends are and I know who I can rely on, and these people know that I will work for them a hundred percent, so they come and work a hundred percent for me.”
Her short film focuses on a pair of young sisters who rebel against their daily violin practice. Hung wrote and directed the piece, and her crew consisted almost entirely of fellow UCLA film students.
The other two films selected for the grant were Yousef’s “Collectibles” and Godshall’s “Absolution,” about a young Iraq war veteran attempting to readjust to his Louisiana community.
“The Caucus Foundation has given about $400,000 to 58 different students since it started the grants in 2001,” said Dale Olson, a representative for the foundation. “(The Foundation) is there to help new young people who are coming up and to build better conditions for all the people who are working in the industry today.”
Yet for all this economic help, it’s also the emotionally gratifying nature of the recognition that matters.
“(Getting nominated for the grant) is really a tremendous emotion,” Smith said. “It says “˜we really like your work; we really admire the quality of it,’ and I think that gives you a lot of confidence in an industry where you’re going to get a lot of “˜No.'”