2012, 45th annual humboldt int’l film festival
The 45th edition of the Humboldt Film Festival was titled “The Power of the Film”. This year, the festival was held for a whole week in the John Van Duzer Theatre with more than 130 entries.
film festival co-directors and Faculty advisor
Brittany White
CO-DIRECTOR
Brittany White is a cool person. She is a water-bender and knows magic spells. She tames dragons on the weekends and frequently wrestles polar bears for exercise. She also is a Co-Director for the Humboldt Film Festival in charge of the money and the film entries which tops many of her adventures. As a Theatre major she spends a lot of her time not attending class but instead working on Film or Theatre projects which keep her in the pits of the theatre building (aka The Prop Shop) all hours of the night, Brittany loves props, they make everything that much more absolutely wonderful.
Kristyn Delgado
CO-DIRECTOR
Kristyn Delgado is a Journalism major who is from L.A area. She has been a part of the festival for over a year. Having participated in other student-run organizations she was overjoyed with the opportunity to be a co-director for the Humboldt Film Festival. As a co-director she was in charge of public relations for the festival and fundraising. The types of films she is interested in are cult horror, romance and animation.
Susan McMurray Abbey
FACULTY ADVISOR
Susan McMurray Abbey is a faculty adviser to the festival, she has been a lecturer for the Theater, Film, and Dance Department since 2007. Originating from Salt Lake City, Utah, she has been a teacher and professor of theater for almost 35 years. Her bridge to the film industry began while teaching several classes of Introduction of Film while earning her MFA at Brigham Young University. From there, she turned stage acting skills to learning, then teaching, Acting for the camera. She has performed in several films, television, and commercials projects – as well as voice over work in Salt Lake City and locally.
FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
MONDAY
Local Filmmakers Night hosted by Cassandra Hesseltine and Sean McLaughlin; with the presence of the guest judges Allen Larsen and Kip Baldwin from the United Filmmakers Association.
Arts Alive: The Soul of Eureka (5:31) – Ben Bettenhausen & Jim Hight
The Scope (5:08) – Sean Powers & Pat Quinn
Humboldt Slackers (9:11) – Owen Roth
Humboldt Fog (1:40) – Ben Bettenhausen
Box Office Romance (14:05) – Joshua Nelson & Ian Strope
Met Once (2:02) – Oskar Azucena
Lost Coast Street Art (10:20) – Daniel Mariscal
Watching TV (10:32) – Rick St. Charles & Matt St. Charles
The Fell Mirrors (12:53) – Michael Garcia
Land Apple (1:40) – Oskar Azucena
While Riding my Bicycle (20:00) – Ace Aseltine
Astrobot Apocalypse (16:12) – Casey Lewiston
THURSDAY
Documentary Night with the presence of judges John Coda and Tasha Oldham.
Long Way Home (15:20) – Damiano Cinque (Venezuela)
Crossing Over: The Art of Jeremy Down (12:06) – Mike Bernard (Canada)
A Salton Soul (12:46) – Mike Agnew, Greg Balkin & Tim Kressin (USA)
Randy Parsons: American Luthier (8:16) – David Aldrich (USA)
Humboldt Slackers (9:11) – Owen Roth (USA)
Mijo (9:33) – Chithra Jeyaram (USA)
Touches of Love (7:58) – Lance Johnson (USA)
Among Giants (13:42) – Lance Johnson (USA)
A Question of Integrity: Politics, Ethics, and the Supreme Court (15:30) – Devan Shea (USA)
Guanape Sur (23:58) – Janos Richter (Italy)
Missionary Lizards (8:42) – Zachary Johnson (USA)
TUESDAY
Young Media Night hosted for the first time in the history of the festival, by Barbara A. Domanchuk.
FRIDAY
Special Panel discussion/narrative Night with Cassandra Hesseltine, John Coda and Tasha Oldham; followed by the screening of narrative entries.
Box Office Romance (14:05) – Joshua D. Nelson (USA)
The Maiden and the Princess (18:07) – Ali Scher (USA)
Literally, Right Before Aaron (23:00) – Ryan Eggold (USA)
Queen (22:00) – Adam Rose (USA)
The Handshake (6:18) – Danny Hankins (USA)
The Orphan (6:16) – Teresa Sutherland (USA)
Love (6:40) – Kaveh Nabatian (Canada)
Home (13:34) – Seimi Kim (South Korea)
Rock Hunter in 3D (24:45) – Spenser Fritz (USA)
Ab Morgen (23:30) – Raphael Wallner & Stefan Elsenbruch (Germany)
In Our Hands (27:40) – Peter Bruenner (Austria)
WEDNESDAY
Animation and Experimental Night with the presence of judges John Coda and Tasha Oldham.
Live Outside the Box (4:19) – Shu-Husan Lin (Taiwan)
Taxonomy (4:08) – Karen Aqua (USA)
Translucence (8:11) – Kate Lain (USA)
Young Mother Nature (4:29) – Steve Conroy (USA)
Met Once (2:02) – Oskar Azucena (USA)
The Quiet Life (11:00) – Timothy Hittle (USA)
Man I Am (10:46) – Justin Oberman (USA)
Another Dress, Another Button (2:45) – Lyn Elliot (USA)
The Jockstrap Raiders (18:55) – Mark Nelson (USA)
A finger Two Dots, Then Me (7:40) – David Holechek (USA)
A Movie By Jen Proctor (11:47) – Jennifer Proctor (USA)
VISITATION (8:50) – Susan Pitt (USA)
Undergrowth (11:30) – Robert Todd (USA)
How I lost my Birthday (8:43) – Deja Bernhardt (USA)
The Olympian (5:00) – Gerald Pesta (USA)
Pennipotens (17:38) – Heather D. Freeman (USA)
SATURDAY
Best of the Fest and awards celebration.
FINALISTS
Best in Animation: Another Dress, Another Button – Lyn Elliot
Honorable mention: The Quiet Life – Timothy Hittle
Best in Experimental: The Olympian – Gerald Pesta
Best in Documentary: Mijo – Chithra Jeyeram
Honorable mention: Humboldt Slackers – Owen Roth
Best in Narrative: Queen – Adam Rose
Honorable mention: Ab Morgen – Raphael Wallner
Best of Fest: In Our Hands – Peter Bruenner
FILM FESTIVAL JUDGES
Tasha Oldham
Tasha Oldham is an Emmy nominated, award-winning filmmaker whose work has been celebrated and distributed throughout the world. Tasha began her film career working on David Lynch’s Lost Highway and went on to work in development at Columbia/Tri-Star Pictures. Tasha’s directorial debut, The Smith Family, wowed the independent film community, airing on PBS, BBC, and around the world to over 6 million viewers. The film won AFI Film Festival’s Audience Award and the prestigious Columbia/Alfred I Dupont Award. Most impressively, The Smith Family won Tasha the covered Director’s Guild of America Award and was nominated for an Emmy.
Tasha was selected by Filmmaker Magazine as the #1 Face of the 25 Hot New Faces to Watch in Independent Film and was also featured in MovieMaker Magazine in the cover story Fiercely Independent Women.
In 2010, Tasha took her passion for storytelling into a new business venture, My Story. Inc, that marries her artistic talents with a unique documentary style to create biography based “advertorial”. From entrepreneurs to non-profit founders, My Story, Inc. is an avenue through which visionaries tell their stories online through film as a compelling route to connecting with and acquiring customers.
Most recently, Tasha has found herself in new territory directing her first music video for Canadian artist Neema in Montreal and 14 national commercial spots for SCORE.
Next up, Oldham will direct the independent feature Everything’s Going to be Alright, starring Neve Campbell, Tom Everett Scott, Assif Mandvi (The Daily Show), Alan Ruck (Spin City) & Monique Curnin (Dark Knight), in New York. Tasha is based in Venice, California where, when not writing or filming, she plots and plans volunteer vacations in Africa, Cuba, Thailand and other remote corners of the world.
John Coda
L.A native composer John Cola has scored music for film and television since 1993. Some of his feature films include Bratz: The Movie, Robosapien (2012), starring Penelope Ann Miller, Legally Blonde, Race to Space, starring James Woods, and the 2007 Sundance Premiere of If I Had Known I was a Genius, starring Whoopie Goldberg and Sharon Stone, John is also known in Hollywood for having penned the theme song for the hit Disney series That’s so Raven. The show’s success garnered him a BMI award and a Gold Record on Walt Disney Records. That’s So Raven tops a long list of hit TV series, which have sought out the music of Mr Coda, including Even Stevens with Shia LeBoeuf, Beyond The Break, and Just 4 Kicks on Nickelodeon. In addition to scoring music, John has written songs for vocal artists, including Raven Symone, Christy Carlson Roman, and Quincy Coleman. Drawn to music and songwriting since his teens, John played drums and performed in local bands, learning to play piano, guitar, and flute along the way. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in composition from Cal State University Northridge and later worked in several Hollywood recording studios – all the while mastering the skills of modern recording and mixing.
Most recently, John created the music score for the family film Baby Geniuses 3, starring John Voight. He is also ventured into the world of documentary style commercials with DGA award winner Tasha Oldham to score 14 national spots. However, John is most recognized for his shagadelic jam fests.