UCLA alumni get chance to shine at film festival

While the high wattage of the many current film festivals seems focused on screenings, swag giveaways and celebrity sightings, the Tribeca Film Festival is working to bring the focus back to filmmaking ““ and three UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television graduates are ready to reap the benefits.

The festival runs through May 6 in the lower section of New York City’s Manhattan borough. But featured filmmakers such as recent UCLA alumni Aldo Velasco, Michelle Hung and Tony Wang were not all selected simply to showcase their most recent projects.

Many of these directors and producers, along with hundreds of others, are braving the Big Apple to participate in such programs as Tribeca All Access and Tribeca Teaches: Films in Motion, created to aid filmmakers in their journeys to the festival and theatrical screen.

A burgeoning film festival, Tribeca was founded in 2002 by Robert DeNiro and friends in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center the year before. This “celebration of film, music and culture,” as stated by the Tribeca Institute, is just that ““ a celebration of film that rejoices and takes part in every step of the filmmaking process, from ambition to production to the finished product. Tribeca offers a number of programs to help get future directors, writers and producers started on their vision.

Class of ’98 film directing graduate Velasco is hoping the prestigious All Access program will help him get on the right financial foot for his upcoming feature film, “SuperMacho.”

The program unites potential directors, writers and producers with companies and private financiers to help filmmakers secure funds for their next project, a task that is almost always one of the most difficult steps independent and student filmmakers face.

“It’s a really great feather in my cap,” Velasco. “I have a really great opportunity to meet these companies and financiers that can help me make my feature.”

Velasco said he’s much more excited for Tribeca than the other film festivals he’s attended in the past, such as South by Southwest and Sundance.

“Showing your short is fun, but at the end of the festival it’s just like, that’s it. But in this case there’s a lot of opportunity there.”

All Access spans over four days during the run of the festival, with 32 selected filmmakers attending close to 500 meetings to pitch their personal visions.

Velasco said confidence is key in taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime chance.

“You have to give yourself that idea in mind so you can push forward and make things happen,” he said. “We are going to be shooting in February and we need to have the money for that. This is our official emergence as a film project.”

Hung, a 2006 graduate of the directors program, has had to face a very different crowd during her time at the festival as a part of the Tribeca Teaches program.

Four directors with works featured at this year’s festival, including Hung, were invited to screen their selected work for Tribeca Teaches, which brought in more than 350 middle- and high-school aged children from all over New York looking to learn more about the art of filmmaking.

Hung and the other directors helped enhance the participants’ understanding of filmmaking through answering students’ questions concerning the media as well as films in particular.

“Not all the festivals do that; it’s something that is a bit more unique to festivals that feel there is more of a human-based initiative in filmmaking,” said UCLA film Professor William McDonald, who compares the program to classes offered at the Sundance Film Festival such as the Screenwriters Lab.

“I’ve never heard of any other film festival doing something like this,” Hung said. “It’s kind of unusual; it definitely is more than just screening films.”

In addition to taking part in the workshop, Hung’s film, “Chinese Dumplings” has also screened as part of the traditional aspect of the film festival. After attending screenings of her film at other festivals earlier this year such as the Santa Barbara Film Festival and the Newport Beach Film Festival, Hung has come to view the events as a crucial part of the filmmaking journey.

“It’s thrilling. It’s really great because this is a very necessary process for me as a filmmaker,” she said. “It’s hard enough to make a film and finish a film, and it’s very encouraging to hear someone is connecting with your film on some level.”

Tony Wang, a 2005 producers program graduate, is joining Hung at the festival on behalf of a short film that he produced entitled “Illegal.”

Similar to Velasco and Hung, Wang is hardly a newcomer to the film festival circuit, and although he won’t be participating in any extra festival activities, Tribeca still marks a big step in Wang’s future as a filmmaker.

“Just being at Tribeca is a big validation,” Wang said. “Once you get into one (festival) like Tribeca, it makes it all worth it.”

No matter where this honor will take them, it seems these Bruins’ time at UCLA will come in handy beyond just camera movements and editing techniques.

“It’s something we talk about in our teaching here: You prepare very diligently, knowing that the whole process of filmmaking is the journey, not the goal,” McDonald said. “Because of their training, (these individuals) are prepared to take advantage of this opportunity.”

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