Young filmakers gather for Spotlight festival

Sara Nagy was a student at Agoura High School when she became aware of Spotlight the Arts, a nonprofit in Calabasas committed to promoting the arts in the local area.

"I had heard a lot about Spotlight the Arts through different people in Agoura and Calabasas communities," Nagy said. "I eventually looked it up, checked out the Web page, and I thought it was a really cool idea."

Nagy, now a freshman at UCLA, had been looking for a venue for her family and friends to screen a film she had put together.

"I saw they were planning to build a playhouse in Calabasas, and I just thought that was really cool," Nagy said. "As a student I wasn't really sure what I could do to help them," Nagy said. "I had an idea for a student film festival, and as a student I thought it would be an appropriate thing for me to bring up. I thought they should really try to appeal to the student community."

After meeting with Spotlight the Arts Chair Toby Keeler and Debbie Gambardella last August, the idea was realized, and Nagy is now chairing the Spotlight Student Film Festival.

"Sara came to us with the idea that we might be the best organization in the area to do this kind of thing," Keeler said. "This is what the Spotlight the Arts is all about- supporting the arts community. At eight bucks a ticket, this is not designed as a fundraiser. It's meant to simply support the community's young, high school filmmakers.

"This is the kind of work that is part of our mission."

Earlier this year, Spotlight the Arts began spreading the word.

"We decided that we wanted it to be very community-based, so we advertised to schools just in the Conejo Valley," Nagy said. "We called schools that had film classes and talked to teachers at schools from La Reina to Canoga Park. We got that network established and publicized the festival at recreation centers and libraries, too."

Nagy received 25 submissions, and a panel of six- Nagy, two of her UCLA classmates and three adults in the entertainment industry- narrowed down the number to be part of the festival.

"I wasn't sure if it would be that successful, so I was pretty happy that we had enough submissions to be able to cut," Nagy said. "It was really validating knowing we had enough submissions. So far it's been really successful. We are already talking about it going on again next year."

Seventeen of the 18 festival films are student-made, and they are all shorts, the longest being just 17 minutes. The festival is opening with David Lynch's cult classic "Eraserhead" at 7 p.m. Fri., May 16.

The films were submitted by students throughout the Conejo Valley. Keeler said the sound has been upgraded in the theater, which should be a plus for the students.

"The size of the sound is really amazing," Keeler said. "If these kids are used to just seeing their film on a TV monitor, this is going to be major for them."

Top prize is a full scholarship to New York Film Academy's three-week digital film summer workshop at its Universal Studios campus, plus $500. The scholarship is valued at $3,900. The second-place prize is $300, and the third-place winner will receive $200.

The Spotlight Student Film Festival is Friday and Saturday, May 16 and 17, at the Louis B. Mayer Theater at the Motion Picture and Television Fund. Tickets are $8 a day and are available at the door.

For more information, call (818) 725-9278 or visit www.SpotlightTheArts.org.