Film Festival Part 3: Ultimate

As a PA, I enjoyed doing miscellaneous odd jobs for the production of “Ultimate,” a Faux sports movie about a coming of age teen. Dailies and behind the scenes from one of our really fun production days: All of the dailies:

Film Festival Part 2: Truman

(First version of documentary poster from an MHCC graphic design student) For my final film project at school, I decided to make a documentary. Originally, my goal was to create something with purpose beyond entertainment. With this in mind, I began research for a documentary about a group of incredible deaf young people I met while filming an event in Newport, Oregon. But the story I needed wasn’t there, and I came to a dead end. That’s when I remembered a friend talking about a group of refugees from Thailand coming to America.They are a people group called “Karen,” but in the US they are often mislabeled “Korean.” Due to a lack of awareness among North Americans, these refugees often do not receive the linguistic and cultural assistance that they need to acclimate to our society. I called my friend, arranging to meet her family at a church attended primarily by Karen refugees. At the church, my friend introduced me to several beautiful people with compelling stories, but none of them stood out to me. How could I choose just one story for a short documentary? However, during my time there I noticed something stood out about a guy playing the piano in the service and translating the sermon to English. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, so I didn’t go out of my way to meet him. Still, it stuck with me for days, so I finally called my friend to asked her who that person was, and if there was anything special about him. It felt crazy, but I had a hunch I couldn’t shake. I couldn’t believe her response; this guy was exactly the person to make a powerful documentary to raise awareness for the Karen people. Who is he? 19-year-old Truman grew up in a Thai refugee camp, shut off from the outside world and mistreated by a rival military force. Now a refugee living in the United States, Truman faces a new set of obstacles. As a multilingual musician and translator, he deals with financial, social, and emotional struggles. Still, Truman finds incredible hope for his situation, determination to succeed, and a unprecedented love toward those who hate him. We’re still working in production and post-production, so more information will be available in the coming weeks! The short version of the documentary will play at the Mt. Hood Community College Final Cut Film Festival. I can’t wait!

Film Festival Part 1: Secrets

Over the last few months, I’ve had the privilege of working with other talented video students at Mt. Hood Community College on projects for our final graduation film festival. Check it out at http://imsuper.mhccim.com/! I had the privilege of having at least a small role in six of the projects we’ll be showing. This is a project I worked on as a DP: Come to the film festival and check it out if you can!