Author’s movie to screen at festival

MOVIE ART--At left is the poster for "1 2 3," a movie written and directed by Acorn reporter Michael Picarella that will screen at the New York International Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles at 2:15 p.m. this Sun., Sept. 21 at the Laemmle Fairfax theater, Screen 1, at 7907 Beverly Blvd. For more information, please log onto the festival Website at www.nyfilmvideo.com. The movie is about a 19-year-old boy who's dating three girls at the same time.

in L.A.

By Michael Picarella

Acorn Staff Writer

Many young aspiring filmmakers around here are trying to become the next Steven Spielberg or next Martin Scorsese. The journey to receiving notice from Hollywood, however, can be very intimidating.

I’d still like to call myself a young aspiring filmmaker. But with a wife, the addition of a son in my life, and pushing age 30, I might have to soon take the "young" off that description.

I recently re-finished my first feature length movie, "1 2 3," which I wrote and directed, and it was accepted and will play at the New York International Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles at 2:15 p.m. this Sun., Sept. 21 at the Laemmle Fairfax theater, Screen 1, at 7907 Beverly Blvd. I’m hoping for some attention from distributors.

"1 2 3" was a project that I made with a group of friends straight out of film school in 1999. Produced and edited by Steven Napolitan, starring Jared Adams and Brian Napolitan, it’s a movie about Adams, who at one time dated three girls—at the same time. We wanted to shoot the movie on film, but all we could afford—after too many student loan payments—was digital videotape. Video looks like home movies and . . . it’s just not film.

So if we were going to use a video format instead of film, we were going to work it into our story. And we did. We included ourselves, the filmmakers—or I should say video-makers—as characters in the story. We are seen documenting—with our video cameras—the happenings of the main character and his three girlfriends.

The audience is watching the footage that we are supposedly shooting. We made the movie look like it was shot with a camera, always shooting from inside closets, bushes or in cars.

The idea worked out well. The main character faces many close calls when his girlfriends almost find out about each other. But the girls only come close to finding out about each other because we the filmmakers want conflict for our documentary and we set up the close calls.

"1 2 3" premiered in 2000. It then screened at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2001.

But the movie wasn’t the movie we originally had in mind. We had to compromise our vision often due to the budget. The movie wasn’t a low budget project; it was a "no budget" project.

We the filmmakers moved on to a second movie, "Punchcard Player," which was, alas, shot on film. We abandoned "1 2 3." Only until we needed more funds to finish "Punchcard Player" did we decide to revisit "1 2 3" and finish it the way we really intended. The plan was to finish "1 2 3" cheaply on video, get a distribution deal, and with the earnings, complete "Punchcard Player."

So here we are in 2003, I’m nearly a "middle-aged" aspiring filmmaker, and I’m hoping this New York film festival in L.A. will give me some exposure. I’ve got my first movie on DVD, with two filmmaker commentaries, outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage and more, and I’m just waiting to drop it on some guy or some gal’s lap who wants to discover the next Martin Scorsese.

Many years from now, I’ll have the author of my biography publish this article in the book. It should make entertaining reading. And if there’s no biography, maybe this article will make for good birdcage lining.

For more information about my movies and the other people who worked just as hard as me on the projects and didn’t get much credit in this story, log onto the Internet and go to www.nppro.com. Or call toll free, 1-(877) 561-FILM (3456).

For more information about the New York International Film and Video Festival in L.A., log onto the Internet and go to the Website at www.nyfilmvideo.com.