Student filmmakers seek to change depictions of gays

By C.J. Yu
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]

Although David Quantic and Abigail Severance may produce films
in different genres that touch on different issues, they still have
one goal in common: to change the portrayal of gays and lesbians in
American media.

Enrolled in the UCLA graduate school of Theater, Film and
Television, Quantic and Severance have both produced student films
that will be screened this weekend at Outfest 2002, the largest
independent film festival in Southern California.

As directors, both Quantic and Severance will gain the rare
opportunity for their films to be seen by hundreds of industry
professionals during the festival.

“The happy accident that we happen to live here in LA, in
the epicenter of the entertainment industry, means for a lot of
filmmakers an opportunity to have their work showcased in the city
that can make lesbian and gay film happen in a powerful way. Our
festival is attended by a lot of motion picture industry
professionals, including producers, studio acquisitions people and
small distributors who very much make it their business to do
business at the festival,” said Shannon Kelley, director of
programming for the festival.

“At the same time, we place a very high importance with
being a very diverse festival with all kinds of points of view that
Hollywood doesn’t do too often,” Kelley continued.

Quantic, who will be entering his fourth year as a graduate
student in the fall, has a short film entitled “After School
Special” that will be screened on Sunday during a program
entitled “The Young and the Restless.” The program
includes six other coming of age short films regarding adolescence
and teen angst.

“It’s about Alex and Benjamin, a guy and a girl.
Alex is the girl, and they’re just trying to survive high
school. They’re both trying to negotiate their ways, and
they’re conflicted about their sexualities in trying to
understand themselves. It was kind of inspired by my life, but not
very autobiographical in terms of the events that happened,”
Quantic said.

Severance, also a fourth-year student, has two short film
submissions in the festival. “Come Nightfall,” about
the relationship between a rural teenager and a cross-dressing
cowboy, will be screened with Quantic’s film on Sunday while
her other film, “Siren,” a visual poem about a
shipwrecked sailor, will be shown at the festival next Tuesday.

“All of my stories start with something real, and usually
I extrapolate and fictionalize from there,” Severance
said.

While both UCLA students want to become directors after earning
their MFA degrees in film directing, Quantic and Severance have
already had their projects shown at film festivals across the
country, including the Peabody festival and Sundance festival,
respectively. Both credit their current success to the support and
help they get from each other, as well as others in the film school
at UCLA.

“Abby Severance is one of my best friends “¦
she’s one of the people who’s always there. I was
really blessed with a really cool class at school. They’re
now some of my best friends in life,” Quantic said.

“Filmmaking is so much about the group process and
everyone kind of helping out, and that’s what I love most
about it,” Quantic continued.

Both Severance and Quantic will be present at Outfest for a
question and answer session following their screenings on Sunday.
They encourage people to go with the hope of eradicating the
stereotypes and taboos of gays and lesbians in Hollywood.

“If you go see five programs, you’re bound to get
more of a unique or diverse outlook on the gay experience than you
are with the Hollywood films,” Quantic said.