{"id":193273,"date":"2025-09-02T05:03:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T05:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193273\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T05:03:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T05:03:17","slug":"ucla-tft-alumni-spotlight-community-at-la-shorts-international-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/193273\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA TFT alumni spotlight community at LA Shorts International Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

In short, these six up-and-coming filmmakers are making their presence known.<\/p>\n

From July 16 to July 28, the 29th annual LA Shorts International Film Festival screened around 400 films and attracted roughly 10,000 attendees \u2013 including some of UCLA\u2019s very own Theater, Film and Television students. As the longest-running short film festival in Los Angeles, its legacy attracts Hollywood professionals and emerging independent filmmakers alike, merging both the newest and most venerated creators in the industry. Recent graduates of UCLA\u2019s Master of Fine Arts and undergraduate programs lit up the silver screen with their finalized projects, and now they reflect on the moviemaking process as a whole. Among an impressive slew of filmmakers, alumni Shizue Roche Adachi, Emilia Figliomeni, Rhett Hipp, Iris Lanhua Ma, Roan Uong Pearl and Isabella Uzc\u00e1tegui are making their stories known.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou make a film and it\u2019s an individual unit and entity and story, and it\u2019s imbued with a very different meaning when put in relationship to other films. \u2026 That is part of the risk and the art, the joy of short filmmaking,\u201d Roche Adachi said. \u201cSeeing my film was programmed so differently, and in conversation with such different films, \u2026 made me see my work in a really different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(CourtesyDirector Shizue Roche Adachi offers guidance to actors in preparation for a scene. She said her short \u201cSoft Animal\u201d is less interested in salting a wound or exploiting trauma but about exploring healing and all of the messiness and uncertainty that goes along with it. (Courtesy of Shizue Roche Adachi)<\/p>\n

From finding her directing voice to learning how to work with the Screen Actors Guild, 2025 MFA graduate Uzc\u00e1tegui said the journey to LA Shorts began with the mentorship and collaborative nature of UCLA\u2019s TFT program. With her emphasis in narrative directing, Uzc\u00e1tegui added that she has always gravitated toward character-driven stories and the female lens, so UCLA\u2019s genre-agnostic teaching methods made for an excellent fit. A 2024 MFA graduate, Ma had a similar experience, as she said attending film school in LA allowed her to experience the commercial side of filmmaking while learning how to attract audiences through important yet receivable messages.<\/p>\n

As the launching pad for their respective projects, the filmmakers agreed the process of creating a short film at UCLA was fast-paced and highly collaborative. A 2024 alumnus of the undergraduate TFT program, Pearl said the production process included planning and filming in the fall quarter \u2013 with most shooting done during weeks six to 10 \u2013 followed by editing in the winter and time spent in the spring to finalize color, sound and everything in between. Likewise, Hipp, who earned his MFA in screenwriting at UCLA in 2024, said his capstone class required that the rough cut of his spectral, post-apocalyptic short film was ready by the end of the 10-week quarter.<\/p>\n

[Related: Film Preview: Summer movies that will heat up the box office in unforgettable ways<\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n

\"(CourtesyIn a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the making of the film \u201cFlashlight\u201d by Isabella Uzc\u00e1tegui, actors prepare at a dinner table under low lighting. Uzc\u00e1tegui said LA Shorts is excellent at finding new voices in the industry, especially LA-based artists, and supporting their entrance into the world of film. (Courtesy of Isabella Uzca\u0301tegui)<\/p>\n

Because of the close-knit nature of the TFT program, students became bonded with their cohort as well as with those of other disciplines, allowing for engaging collaboration, Figliomeni said. Building crews for their projects, Roche Adachi added, was very word-of-mouth, fostered by the community of current and past UCLA students. Making a film outside of the TFT program, she said, would have required accessing a network that would be much more intimidating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the thought that if there was ever a time to wildly experiment with form, it would be while I\u2019m still in the school system, while I still have certain safety nets,\u201d Pearl said. \u201cThat was a film I could never \u2026 make now \u2013 it would be ungodly expensive and very difficult, and (I) wouldn\u2019t have the resources to pull it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearl, whose musical thesis film \u201cMaple Bacon Bar\u201d was a semifinalist for HollyShorts and was screened abroad at the Cambodia International Film Festival, said her story is rooted in personal connections. Featuring a classic refugee trade story based on the donut shop her family owned in the 1970s \u2013 as many Cambodian families did at the time \u2013 Pearl said she scouted nearly every donut seller in the LA area while preparing to film. She added that her taste in writing and directing can be labeled as grounded magical realism, deeming her films \u201cmarginalized stories with a sprinkle of magic.\u201d \u201cMaple Bacon Bar\u201d expresses Pearl\u2019s love of theater and ability to tell underrepresented stories through film.<\/p>\n

\"(CourtesyTwo grandmothers on a road trip across California look guilty as they are pulled over by the highway patrol. Iris Lanhua Ma said her film \u201cChowmein Holiday\u201d blends the classic \u201cThelma & Louise\u201d storyline with Asian influences, such as Chinese instruments within the short\u2019s score. (Courtesy of Iris Lanhua Ma)<\/p>\n

Similarly set on portraying unique narratives, Ma said her film \u201cChowmein Holiday\u201d highlights three \u201csilent\u201d communities \u2013 the Asian community, elderly community and female community. Understanding the power of media, she said film attributes stereotypes but also reverses them, so she was keen on blending the classic \u201cThelma & Louise\u201d storyline with Asian influences, such as Chinese instruments within the short\u2019s score. According to the film\u2019s Instagram account, \u201cChowmein Holiday\u201d \u2013 a dark comedy Western following two Asian American grandmothers as they road-trip across California \u2013 is meant to subvert genre, reclaim space and celebrate strong elderly women.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019OUR GOAL\u2019 is to create a story that will be accessible by those who are underrepresented in our society, and raise awareness for important issues that are often overlooked by Hollywood,\u201d the Instagram post said.<\/p>\n

[Related: Short film \u2018Maple Bacon Bar\u2019 offers lyrical insight into Cambodian immigrant story<\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n

Accredited by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the LA Shorts International Film Festival is ranked as one of the most prestigious and largest short film festivals in the world, with 69 LA Shorts filmmakers having earned Academy Award nominations \u2013 18 of which took home the Oscar. Uzc\u00e1tegui said LA Shorts is excellent at finding new voices in the industry, especially LA-based artists, and supporting their entrance into the world of film. This year, the festival included an opening night red carpet premiere, closing night awards, industry sessions and a wide array of film screenings.<\/p>\n

Like many spheres of art and media, themes of family and community are highly valued in the filmmaking process championed by both LA Shorts as well as TFT at UCLA, Uzc\u00e1tegui said. For instance, she was inspired by her international, nomadic upbringing to tell the story about how it feels to move to a new place and watch the memories of the past community disappear. Her film, \u201cFlashlight,\u201d is an amalgamation of three episodes of the life of a woman named Julia who moves throughout the film, Uzc\u00e1tegui said. According to the film\u2019s Instagram account, Uzc\u00e1tegui wrote, directed and produced the project \u2013 which premiered in the LOLA Los Shorts category of the Philadelphia Latino Arts & Film Festival \u2013 in a theatrical manner, she said, centering it around the poetic essence of personal connection and goodbyes.<\/p>\n

Notions of community-building reigned paramount at LA Shorts, as Hipp said it was a great experience of solidarity to meet so many filmmakers and learn about their experiences. He added that seeing the many UCLA students screening their work at the festival instilled a sense of school pride, as well as a gratitude for gaining additional exposure for his film, \u201cYou Knew.\u201d Pearl also said her short was blocked with projects that shared themes of music and score, so she enjoyed interacting with like-minded creators whose films complimented the music and visual aspects of her project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was \u2026 a good community experience in that you see a bunch of people who like it being at film school, who are all working in the same sphere and putting in their best effort, and who are growing and learning and looking to make their way into this industry,\u201d Hipp said.<\/p>\n

\"(CourtesyTwo actors, one wearing a birthday hat, gaze across a table at each other during a scene from Emilia Figliomeni\u2019s film, \u201cOne to Grow On.\u201d Figliomeni said because of the close-knit nature of the TFT program, students became bonded with their cohort as well as with those of other disciplines, allowing for engaging collaboration. (Courtesy of Emilia Figliomeni)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne to Grow On,\u201d Figliomeni\u2019s 14-minute queer dramedy shot over four days on UCLA soundstages, also conveys the ways in which film allows a community to express itself, they said. Figliomeni added that they put care into creating a crew that was supportive to each other, a mission that was felt on set as well as in the film itself. Taking place over the course of one night, a nonbinary character, Sylvan, throws a dinner party for their two moms to honor their recently deceased grandmother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI \u2026 want to tell stories where identity is not at the center of it,\u201d Figliomeni said. \u201cIt\u2019s more just about queer people being part of stories and just living their lives, not necessarily about this identity struggle for them. That was an important intention in this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Related: Youth-oriented film festival inspires creativity, mental health awareness<\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n

In conjunction with the message of Figliomeni\u2019s film, Roche Adachi said her short \u201cSoft Animal\u201d is less interested in salting a wound or exploiting trauma but about exploring healing and all of the messiness and uncertainty that goes along with it. The film, set on a city bus late at night, portrays two women\u2019s paths colliding, which reveals unexpected echoes in their individual struggles to reclaim their bodies, Roche Adachi said. Exploring the nuances of motherhood and sexual assault, the filmmaker said \u201cSoft Animal\u201d was filmed in four different locations \u2013 including Eagle Rock, California, and Mar Vista, California \u2013 and premiered at the Brooklyn Film Festival.<\/p>\n

Roche Adachi described her film as a collective vision \u2013 changing, transmuting and transforming \u2013 that benefits from the power narrative has in defining the systems and structures that influence daily life. She said the momentum involved in creating a film is fed by the crew\u2019s excitement and connection to the work and added that her worst fear in a film is that it turns out exactly the way she imagined it, because that would mean she did not create space for others to contribute to and elevate it. Figliomeni also expressed this sentiment of shared experience, as they said getting to watch their finished film with an audience of 200 people at LA Shorts felt wonderfully collaborative.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt honestly just feels amazing when you\u2019re sitting in a theater with all of these people who don\u2019t know you, and people are laughing at these jokes that you wrote,\u201d Figliomeni said. \u201cTo feel like your film works and people are resonating with it \u2013 even if they don\u2019t know you \u2013 so that\u2019s a pretty special feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In short, these six up-and-coming filmmakers are making their presence known. From July 16 to July 28, the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":193274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-193273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115132957089474902","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}