Watching Young Artists Grow at the UC Davis Film Festival

Last night was the opening night of the . My wife and I were in attendance -- seated in the third row with a bucket of popcorn and some gelato. 

Neither of us had ever been to a film festival before, so we weren’t sure what to expect. We're headed back tonight (Thursday) for round two, which is my way of saying it was great. The festival . 

My favorite part was the fact that the films were raw and experimental. Many of them were mind-blowingly impressive, but all of them were unconventional and actively creative.

What I enjoyed most was watching these young artists -- who are still figuring out who they are and how they approach film – create a product and share it with the community.

There’s a whole lot of experimentation in that. The subsequent experience is loaded with plenty of hits, and along with that, some misses.

Here were a few of my favorite short films from last night:

• Glacier Circle – A documentary-style film about our nation’s first cooperative senior living home, which is right here in Davis. The film features elderly folks talking about life, love and – of course – the fact that they will someday die.
• A Dream Come True – This film follows a young comedian named Alison Stevenson, who is so funny that you almost forget how beautifully filmed the piece itself is. This was my favorite of the night. (I gave it my viewers’ choice award vote).
• One Day on Earth – This one follows a very young girl who can be heard singing (and humming) in the background. The video itself (which was probably the most impressively edited of the night) followed the girl while she scampered around outdoors, snapping photos and just being cute. (Safe to say: This got my wife’s viewers’ choice vote).

Some of the other featured films were funny (Rock Beats Paper, That Funny Laugh and UC Davis Lightsaber Battle), while others were more introspective and emotional (Not Alone and Our Certainty). You can read the .

Back to why I enjoyed the festival so much. I’m going to attempt an analogy here. Let’s see if it works:

These films reminded me (to pluck a random example from the air) of the Nirvana album, Bleach, which came out a couple of years before the oh-so-massive massive Nevermind. Where Nevermind is stacked top-to-bottom with well-crafted, radio-ready rock songs, Bleach ping pongs back and forth between gritty stripped-down punk songs, heavy noise and occasional catchy glimpses into Nirvana's future.

That’s partly because Kurt Cobain was still growing as a songwriter, but it’s also because the band as a whole was young, and putting out their first album ever.

In addition, their time and resources were limited (just like the students featured in the film fest), so they hammered out an album using what they had. In doing so, they embarked on a process of self-discovery. Without that experience, Nevermind wouldn’t have had a chance to exist in the years that followed.

What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that it's exciting to watch promising artists improve and grow, and that's how this film festival feels to me. 

East of Eden wasn’t Steinbeck’s first book. Guernica wasn’t Picasso’s first piece of art.  And Pulp Fiction wasn’t Quentin Tarantino’s first movie. They all logged plenty of hours before creating those well-regarded products. That kind of thing.

If you enjoy watching the growth process I have attempted to describe above, you should .

It starts at 8:30 at the .

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