Highland Park Independent Film Festival
October 4-6, 2018
HISTORIC HIGHLAND THEATRE 5604 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90042
By Elia Esparza
For five years, the Highland Park Independent Film Festival (HPIFF) has featured a variety of outstanding short films local short films by local Los Angeles filmmakers. I was motivated to write this blog coverage on HPIFF after reading Diana Martinez’s excellent article, titled “For The Love Of Film, For The Love Of Highland Park” for the community newspaper, Boulevard Sentinel, I scrolled the list of features and shorts and two caught my attention because I personally related to the film plots and social and cultural issues.
Kudos to Actor/Writer Marita De La Torre, Cinematographer Alessandro Gentile, and Producer/DJ Mark Reitman, three “local artists who launched HPIFF three years ago. The 5th annual festival (going on now) is the biggest ever with 47 films over three days. It includes seven world premieres, one USA premiere and nine Los Angeles premieres.
The historic Highland Theatre on N. Figueroa Street between Ave. 56 and Ave. 57. A no-frills, community centered venue, already appreciated for showing first-run films for a bargain, it is the perfect home base for HPIFF.
All the films featured are excellent and worthy of our praise– the sacrifices and economic hardships that filmmakers encounter in order to make their films– are nothing short of courageous and deserve standing ovations.
As a woman who grew up in the 60’s-70’s, I had to work doubly hard to obtain an education because my traditional mom, would rather I sharpen my husband-catching skills than go to college. I recall one conversation with my mom concerned with college might distract me from her number one objective — to see me married off. She would say things like, “Why study to be a lawyer, just marry a lawyer.” And then there was my aunt, who was more old-fashioned than my mom, who thought I was just lazy preferring to study versus working more labor hours to help my family. The short, The Opportunity, took me back to my own battles when trying to get a higher education.
Mi Amor, took me back to when at 15 as I was preparing for my Quinceanera. I met a young boy and I had convinced my mom to allow him to be my “chamberlan” versus my brother or my cousin. She saw how cute Bernardo was and said yes. Well, a month before my Quince, my beloved first crush drowned at the Tijuana Playas. I was devastated and my whole Quince is a blur and to this day, all I recall is Bernardo and not details of my coming-of-age fiesta.
Both The Opportunity and Mi Amor will screen at HPIFF on Saturday, October 6th at 12:00/noon:
The Opportunity, by Susana Dueñas: When her seventeen year-old daughter starts applying to college against her wishes, Fatima, a Mexican mail carrier, must choose between standing by her daughter’s side, or missing out on what could be the biggest opportunity of their lives yet.
Mi Amor – Dir. Yeniffer Behrens
A romantic dramedy set in Los Angeles. “Jonathan,” a fifteen-year-old intelligent young man meets the new girl in school sixteen-year-old “Raquel,” a beautiful young lady.
When I asked Yeniffer, who celebrates her directorial debut, what motivated her to make Mi Amor and she said:
“It started as an idea to create a project for my son Adrian Moreira-Behrens and my dear friend Rochelle Briggs- Shopashnick’s daughter, Isabella Briggs. They have grown up together and we thought it would be fun to write something for them. We brainstormed and thought back to when I was a teen… and a clear heart-breaking memory came to me. I called my friend writer Laurie Lott to help us write this short. I gave her the online and she structured it in script form. We then all collaborated in creating this story about Young Love. Lost Love. Forever Love
“As the script was born, Mauricio [Mendoza/husband] and I realized we can also be part of the cast as the parents. So Mi Amor became a family affair!
Mi Amor cast: Montserrat Hernandez, Michael Gracia, Paloma Morales and supporting cast Cesar Alejandro Zamora, Vanessa Suárez and Isait De la Fuente.
Yeniffer also stated that Mi Amor can also become a web series, and they are currently writing more episodes. They just picked up a Best Web Series award from The Showlow Film Fest in Arizona, and short film will also screen on Oct. 27th at the Panafest Panamanian International Film Festival.
As for this writer’s own love lost story — well you’ll have to wait for the incredible story of my Bernardo! Fifty years later, the memory of this boy, who wore red high top Kids tennis, is seared in my heart forever. All of us have stories to share– and events like the Highland Park Indie Film Fest, provides an excellent opportunity to screen our creations.
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