As UCLA professor A.P. Gonzales asked his students to write down their earliest memories, Olivia Silver took paper to pen and relived the moment of shock she felt upon arriving at her new home in the San Gabriel Valley after driving cross-country from Connecticut. For Silver, this would be the first step in creating her first feature film, “Arcadia.”
Friday night, Melnitz Movies opens its doors to welcome home Silver, a UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television alumna, with a screening of “Arcadia.”
Her film, a coming-of-age story, follows a young girl named Greta as her father unceremoniously shuts her and her two siblings in a car to rip them away from their mother and their home in the wooded New England landscape to move to Arcadia, Calif. While Greta’s older, boy-obsessed sister whines, and her younger, more naive brother Nat fixates on the Grand Canyon, Greta watches the troubling mood swings of her father Tom and feels her mother and New England slowly slipping away.
Silver said this showing will be special since it will be the first time the film will come to Los Angeles and because her Q&A session will allow her to show current students that it’s possible to turn the films they start in school into features.
“I hope that students can see that it’s possible to make a feature using a lot of what UCLA gives you,” Silver said. “There is life after film school and I hope it inspires them to write their own features and not give up until they’re made because it’s entirely possible if you try.”
After trying to pursue a career in publishing but being ultimately unsatisfied and uninspired, Silver gained admittance into UCLA’s directing program. Upon her arrival, she immediately got started with her memory-inspired story. Before it became “Arcadia,” Silver’s writing assignment acted as the inspiration for her 20-minute thesis film, “Little Canyon.”
The short film received a lot of immediate acclaim and was accepted into the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Film professor Nancy Richardson, one of the judges of Silver’s thesis film panel, said “Little Canyon” stood out from the rest of that year’s thesis films for its quality execution and depth in meaning.
“The competition to get into Sundance is so formidable, and it’s such a unique thing for a student film to get into Sundance. They accept about 36 shorts out of about 7,000 entries and that’s from around the world,” Richardson said. “To me, that’s a sign.”
Richardson said Silver’s gutsy decision in directing children paid off while also revealing Silver’s talent in working with young actors. Silver said while many of her choices in making “Little Canyon” were ultimately risky, they were necessary to achieve the authenticity she desired.
Silver said she always intended to make the story into a feature-length film even before she made the short. She said the story, despite its origins, is not autobiographical. Silver said she wanted to expand the depth of the characters and emotions, and in doing so the story became its own entity rather than a recited memory. She said her fixation with family relationships is what makes the story intricate enough to be a full-length film.
“I really find family dramas compelling, and when you really get into the nitty-gritty … it’s too much for a short film and I wanted to get into it with the feature,” Silver said. “I really wanted to live with this family and feel like a member by the end of the film.”
As “Little Canyon” gained recognition in the Sundance Film Festival and the LACMA Young Director’s night, Silver gained the attention of UCLA alumnus Julien Favre. Favre, who said he was impressed with the authenticity of her work, eventually opted to become one of the producers of “Arcadia” a year after Silver initially proposed their partnership.
“I think a lot of directors take shortcuts and present a reality that is really simplified, but she’s all about capturing all the little nuances and different shades of colors,” Favre said. “I think she has the ability to create moments that feel completely real and very touching. You get immersed in the reality she creates for you.”
Now after having gone through film school and successfully directing her first feature film, Silver said she wants to do more directing and writing. She said that while she will do anything in the industry surrounding film, her true passion is grounded in the creative side of filmmaking.
“A lot of people say you’re supposed to establish yourself early on, then get a job to make enough money to support yourself and eventually do something creative, and that can work for some people,” Silver said. “I said to myself, ‘Well, I could do that, but I could also die tomorrow without ever having lived a creative life.’”