High on weed and low on life, Kenny sits stoned on the lifeguard chair fantasizing about Mrs. Jordan as she begins her daily routine of swimming one lap before laying out to tan. Thoroughly lost in his lust, Kenny is jolted back to reality when one of the children at the pool begins drowning. After saving the young boy, Kenny attracts the eyes and attention that he’s always wanted.
This is the premise of UCLA graduate film student Alex Jablonski’s short film, “Blue Boy.” The film starts with Kenny’s mundane existence as a child being raised by an alcoholic single father. Kenny bikes into a wealthier neighborhood every day to be a lifeguard.
“Blue Boy” is one of only three student films from the U.S. chosen to be screened Friday through May 3 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
So how does a UCLA student go from strolling on Bruin Walk to screening his work at a film festival in New York?
In Jablonski’s case, it was not due to some overnight sensation but a childhood goal.
Jablonski can pinpoint the moment when he knew he wanted to be a filmmaker. In sixth grade, he was introduced to Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing.” He said the film’s focus on racial tensions in Brooklyn was startling to him. The power of film was obvious, and Jablonski was inspired. At that moment, he knew he wanted to be a filmmaker.
While filmmaking was now his passion, Jablonski knew storytelling was the key to success. He attended Kenyon College as an undergraduate because of its great English program.
After graduation, Jablonski entered the Directors Guild of America assistant director training program, which relocated him to New York. It allowed him hands-on experience on multiple films and television shows.
However, after gaining experience, Jablonski was ready to move on. While in New York, Jablonski decided to go door-to-door in search of a new job. After scoring a job as a production assistant, he received another offer from the very man who inspired his passion for filmmaking ““ Lee.
In New York, Jablonski worked as part of the Spike Lee team and was kept on for multiple Lee productions as an editor. Jablonski gained priceless experience from observing Lee and, in particular, his work ethic.
“Filmmaking is a craft,” Jablonski said. “You could have all the talent in the world, but you need to work at it, really hard.”
However, Jablonski was soon ready for a new adventure.
“Spike has talented people around him, and he gives them the space to flourish and be talented,” Jablonski said.
With encouragement from Lee, Jablonski decided to head to graduate school and pursue his master’s. When he started UCLA in 2004, Jablonski was more experienced than most students in the program and quickly took off from there.
“People are impressed with him,” said Nancy Richardson, one of his professors. “I recommended him for a job on a film with some friends of mine, and they hired him immediately, saying, “˜We’re all going to be working for Alex someday.'”
When he began to work on his thesis, Jablonski decided that to write a short film script, he needed to study the mindset of writing concisely, so he turned back to his English degree roots of short stories. There he found the short story that would inspire his film, “Blue Boy.”
As an adaptation, Jablonski took the short story and visualized the components needed to capture it in a short film. “Blue Boy” editor Joi McMillon recognized the talent Jablonski has to capture an audience.
“Alex has a way of making a simple car ride home, an uneasy journey,” he said. “He breaks down the barrier of the screen and puts you right in the middle.”
This narrative film was a departure from the documentary work Jablonski had done before, but for him, they are all related.
“The one thing that unites them is that they are about taking you to a different place, in order to understand your own life better,” he said. “The process of making films is where I learn more about the world.”
Now with the recognition his film will receive at Tribeca, Jablonski hopes to build this success into a greater one in feature films. Those who know him are confident in his future accomplishments after Tribeca. However, Jablonski keeps his focus on storytelling.
“I didn’t set out to make something to get myself noticed,” he said. “It just felt right to me.”