Visionaries

  Amy Ferraris’ film "Viewing Habits" will
be shown as part of the presentation "Visions of Five: A Selection
of Outstanding Student Documentaries." The students presenting are
all from Professor Marina Goldovskaya’s advanced documentary film
workshop.

By Jessica Moss
Daily Bruin Contributor

A unique group of five documentaries provides a microcosmic view
into the minds of UCLA film students by recounting a particular
story, quest or event from their diverse life experiences.

Tonight, the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, in
conjunction with the International Documentary Association,
presents “Visions of Five: A Selection of Outstanding Student
Documentaries” at the James Bridges Theater.

The festival features intensely personal, semi-autobiographical
films including Wayne Calvin Byrd II’s “A Night at the
Marina,” Lochlann Bruce Dey Jr.’s “Lochlann Jr.
Had a Brother” and Amy Ferraris’ “Viewing
Habits.”Â 

All of the festival participants were students in Professor
Marina Goldovskaya’s advanced documentary film workshop.

“All of these films were conceived in my class,”
said Goldovskaya, the festival curator. “I was like a midwife
with every film.”

Goldovskaya collaborated with the students throughout the
course, guiding and nurturing their development.

Student filmmaker Akira Boch credits the professor as his mentor
and considers her the “UCLA Film School’s goddess of
documentary films.”

“She’s the one who encouraged me to screen my film
in this series,” Boch said.

In his film, “Finding Fire Underneath My Grandma’s
Fingernails,” Boch searches for his Japanese American
grandmother’s past. He explores the implications of her
experience in a concentration camp in Colorado during World War II,
both for himself and for those of future generations.

  Photos from School of Theater, Film and Television
Akira Boch documents his search for the history of
his Japanese American heritage. “I call this evening
“˜Visions of Five’ because all the five films are made
by different filmmakers with different points of view, very clear
personalities that can be read out of the films, and each is very
personal and original,” Goldovskaya said.

In Jonathan Moore’s film “The Factory,” which
ostensibly documents the closing of a Fruit of the Loom plant in
his hometown of Cambellsville, Ky., and the subsequent social and
financial devastation, he subtly presents his own story through
that of the town as a whole.

“Mine is about a factory, but anyone that really pays
close attention to it knows that it is about me,” Moore
said.

For Goldovskaya, the independent vision of the filmmaker is of
paramount importance and is something that she is insistent about
developing in her students.

“My documentary class is about independent filmmaking and
that’s why our school on the whole supports and promotes the
vision of the artist, the filmmaker,” she said.

The films, at times poignant, playful and painful, reflect the
lives of the creators. The goal for the class, Goldovskaya said,
was to create films which the audience can relate to on an
experiential level.

“They are making films about their own life experiences
and it is their search, their quest for the kind of questions that
are disturbing for them. If they are disturbing for them, they
are disturbing for everyone,” Goldovskaya said.

Additionally, the festival provides an interactive setting for
the filmmakers to expose their films.

“Through this screening for 300 people, my students, the
first-time filmmakers of documentary, will feel the breath of the
audience and their response to what they have done,” said
Goldovskaya.

She believes documentary film is quickly becoming a popular
medium.

“It’s the point of view of young people,”
Goldovskaya said.

Filmmaker Akira Boch agreed.

“Docs are where it’s at,” he said.

FILM: “Visions of Five: A Selection of
Outstanding Student Documentaries” screens tonight at 7:30 at
the James Bridges Theater, Melnitz Hall. The screening is free and
open to the public. For more information call (310) 206-8365.