2 Santa Monica College Student Films Win Awards At Film Festival

SANTA MONICA, CA — Two Santa Monica College (SMC) student films won awards at the 4th Annual Silicon Beach Film Festival, SMC announced Thursday. "Once Upon a Woman" won Best Western Film and "Ritornare" (a co-production with CinemadaMare Italy) won Best Student Short Film.

The festival took place June 14-20 and showcased national and international films, the SMC press release said. "Once Upon a Woman," directed by SMC alum Wayne Hodges and co-written by Hodges and SMC alum Alci Rengifo, is a Western movie set after the Civil War, where cowboys and Indians struggle with "personal conflicts against the approach of the railroad and impending doom," the press release said.

"Westerns have always been my cup of tea," Hodges said. "Growing up on a dairy farm in rural Idaho, Westerns were the first movie genre I truly got. I watched and re-watched more Westerns as a kid than any other movie type combined. Every time I see 'Once Upon A Woman,' I realize that we at SMC were able to create and realize a Western that I personally like as much as any Western I have ever seen before."

The Western was filmed at Calico Ghost Town, a California Historical landmark, with the SMC "Making the Short Film" class, which functions as a "complete, professional film crew-in-training under the supervision of SMC Film Production head Salvador Carrasco," SMC said.

"Both 'Once Upon A Woman' and 'Ritornare' are highly original films that take a genre and turn it on its head with incredibly satisfying results," said Carrasco. "Both Joelle and Wayne are well-versed in film history, and they combined that knowledge with great instinct and a regard for aesthetics, all of which elevates their shorts beyond the category of student films."

"Ritornare" was written and directed by SMC student Joelle Brianne Graham and debuted at the festival. Filmed in Erice, Sicily, it is about a lesbian nun who "decides to follow her own moral compass, beyond the restraints of a conservative church and society," the press release said. This film was the lasted in a co-production between SMC Film Production Program and CinemadaMare in Italy for "thought-provoking films that have garnered international awards," SMC said.

Joelle Brianne Graham, an accomplished actress, enrolled in the SMC Film Program to learn about "the other side of the camera" and has now fallen in love with directing, which she is determined to pursue, she said.

"'Ritornare' is a film about the journey towards self-acceptance and all the struggle, beauty, and bravery that comes with embracing oneself wholly," said Graham. "Like our heroine, we are all asked at some point to re-examine social moralities, and we must decide for ourselves what is right. The title 'Return' (in Italian) comes from the idea that when we haven’t worked something out within ourselves, we subconsciously seek to return to a similar circumstance for resolution."

The Silicon Beach Film Festival is an annual event that gives emerging filmmakers a showcase for their talent.