USC\u2019s reputation for producing world class filmmakers continues as several students had their films premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival last week, marking a milestone achievement in their creative and professional journeys. <\/p>\n
Senior Ryan Saywitz was one of the students who had his short film, \u201cFollowed,\u201d shown at the festival. <\/p>\n
The film follows a private investigator who stops at a local bar to take his mind off work, but is later greeted by a stranger who has sinister intentions. <\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in Newport, so I\u2019ve been going to this film festival for years just as a viewer,\u201d Saywitz said. \u201cSo as soon as I made this film, I was like, \u2018I might as well submit it to my hometown festival.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
For Saywitz, the festival was not just an opportunity to showcase his work, but a full-circle moment that connected his roots in his hometown and his future as a filmmaker. <\/p>\n
Former USC film and television production student Martiza Cruz felt that being recognized by the festival marked a defining moment in her filmmaking career. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt meant so much to be recognized by the Newport Beach Film Festival, because they\u2019re such a beacon here in Orange County, it was like the biggest [festival] that we\u2019ve gotten into so far,\u201d Cruz said. <\/p>\n
Cruz\u2019s film \u201cMade in America\u201d follows a 16-year-old migrant girl who searches for her missing friend after her shift in a garment factory, highlighting themes of identity and resilience. <\/p>\n
Sophomore film and television production student Collin Nelson also showcased his film \u201cAftershock\u201d which explores his passion for space exploration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s directly because of USC that I\u2019m able to make the film in the first place. The film is, of course, about the USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, which is an incredible student-run organization that SC has,\u201d Nelson said. <\/p>\n
Despite the concept being a lifelong interest of Nelson, he stressed the importance of working with the greater cast and crew to bring his vision to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everything is about collaboration. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing that I think the school teaches you, is that the only way to make a movie is with other people, and to do it alone is something that is incredibly hard and almost impossible to do,\u201d Nelson said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USC\u2019s reputation for producing world class filmmakers continues as several students had their films premiered at the Newport…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":337885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[12883,1582,276,1020,81102,2961,224,5337,16367,166904,2433],"class_list":{"0":"post-337884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-beach","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-film","12":"tag-filmmaker","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-newport","17":"tag-newport-beach-film-festival","18":"tag-short-film"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115450624464926922","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337884","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=337884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}