FIRST GLANCE HOLLYWOOD

First Glance Film Festival
Written By Ian Cappelletti

Driving through Hollywood on Melrose Ave is usually fun and evokes some ooo’s and ahhhh’s at the sights in boutique windows – except the experience becomes positively hellish when you’re already late for the only screening you’re supposed to attend that day and the traffic makes you want to claw your eyes out. After finally getting to Raleigh Studios for part of the Saturday sessions for the First Glance Hollywood festival, I had to call the big boss and ask where the hell the entrance was to this thing; Raleigh didn’t exactly hang a banner for anyone.

Once inside the gates, I eventually found the Chaplin theater but of course ran into some trouble with getting a pass to the viewing session. Shane to the rescue once more.

Fortunately, I somehow only managed to miss two of the five shorts presented at that screening.

Messages
Directed By Gabor Tarnokl



The first one, “Messages”, was a foreign film about a young Hungarian girl’s persistent imagination. It was short and sweet, but nothing too exceptional – I felt direction detracted from the message (hurr) of the story.

Get On The Bus For Mother’s Day
Directed By Jennifer Farmer



The next entry “Get on The Bus for Mother’s Day” was a short documentary about a state-sponsored program to promote visitation between children and their incarcerated mothers. Frankly I found it boring and in need of some heavy editing. That and Carol Potter introduced and closed the documentary – man, 90210 was that long ago?

The Colony
Written and Directed by Steven List

“The Colony”, however, was an excellent short thriller that, of all things, has its basis in reality. The script is tight, employs flashbacks in a refreshing fashion, and focuses on the characters’ emotional hardships rather than the conspiratorial nature of a Chilean quasi-Nazi colony – I was impressed. The dialog needed some work and Sarah Clarke (the only billable name in the piece) phoned in her performance, but overall an indication that Mr. List definitely has some talent.