Aspiring Eastview filmmakers show movies at film festival

By Heather J. Carlson
Sun Newspapers
(Created 5/22/2002 8:57:00 AM)

Joe Filipas remembers the exact moment he fell in love with films.

He was 3 years old, watching the movie “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” on his home’s television set.

“It hit me that movies have a story behind them,” Joe said. “It’s like reading a book, but seeing it acted out.”

By the time he reached second grade, Joe knew he wanted to write, star and direct his own feature film.

His dream is about to come true.

Now an Eastview High School senior, Joe will showcase his movie “Switch,” which he wrote, directed and starred in, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, May 24, at his school’s Performing Arts Center.

But that’s not all. Legendary Hollywood director George Lucas has agreed to watch a copy of Joe’s film.

The premiere follows the school’s first-ever film festival last weekend that featured 23 short films produced by Eastview students.

Tyler Krebs, an English and multimedia teacher at the school, said he hopes the festival becomes an annual event.

“I’m glad that we have an avenue for the rest of the people to see the students’ work,” Krebs said. “I think this is a nice way of showcasing talent.”

And it provides the amateur filmmakers a chance to see their movies displayed on the big screen.

Senior Mikey Fornicoia, who debuted his short film, “28 Minute Show,” at the festival, said it means a lot that others will get a chance to see the movie.

“I think it’s a great idea that we can have a way for everybody to see what we’re doing,” Mikey said. “It makes the whole experience that much greater.”

The idea for the festival was born after Joe and his mother, Lynn, head of the school’s English Speaking Union, began talking with teachers about a premiere for Joe’s film. As they were discussing the premiere, the idea surfaced to start a film festival.

Soon, Krebs and theater teacher Scott Durocher began to organize it.

Joe’s quest to complete his film began last summer.

“It was time,” he said. “It felt like now or never.”

Having taken a broadcast journalism course and worked on the school’s weekly news show, “The Flash,” Joe said he gathered enough technical experience to begin filming.

But first, he had to come up with a story.

After watching the Guy Ritchie movie “Snatch,” Joe was inspired to write his own crime comedy. With the help of some friends, he drafted an outline of the story and then set to work last fall writing the 100-page script.

In between marching band practice and starring in the school’s fall play, Joe could be found scribbling down dialogue for the story.

By February, he was ready to film. He gathered 11 classmates to help produce and act in the movie and borrowed equipment from the school. He filmed most of the scenes at friends’ houses.

Like a proud parent discussing his child, the teen’s eyes sparkled as he explained the movie’s complex plot last week.

The story centers on a $3 million drug deal gone bad when the cash ends up missing. Determined to find the money first, five crime groups go searching for the lost drug money.

“It’s sort of a comedy and also an action movie,” Joe said. “It’s a mix between Guy Ritchie, Quentin Tarantino and ‘Seinfeld.’”

There is no moral to the story, Joe said. Rather, “Switch” is meant to entertaining.

“I hope they just enjoy it,” he said.

In contrast, sophomore Jacob Kindberg presented a short drama last weekend entitled “Inside Us All,” based on the true story of a teenage boy contemplating suicide who is saved by a friend. Kindberg submitted the film to the National Children’s Film Festival in Los Angeles last year and said he was thrilled his Apple Valley friends would finally see it.

“I was so excited about it because I didn’t really get to show it to anybody,” Jacob said.

Similar to Joe, Jacob said he has been fascinated with movies since he was a child. He wants to direct Christian films.

“I think all my movies will have a good message to them,” Jacob said.

As for Joe, he has been accepted to Northwestern University’s School of Speech and plans to study film, radio and television this fall.

When pondering his future, the aspiring filmmaker has high hopes.

He said, “If I could break into Hollywood and write and direct that would be great.”