Neither Syd VanRoosendaal or Dylan Lunt say they have a plan B – they just want to make films. Period. And if the number of film festival awards being racked up by these two Salt Lake Community College film production phenoms are any indications, plan A just might work out.
Dylan’s 10-minute sci-fi short Circadian can so far claim 25 awards from seven of the 23 festivals to which he submitted the film after graduating from SLCC last fall with an associate's degree in Film Production. The big ones to date, he says, are Best Picture from the MMXXI Foreman Empire Productions Film Festival, Best Student Sci-Fi Short from the IndieX Film Festival and Best Production Design Gold Award from the Independent Short Awards.
Circadian’s synopsis is as follows: “A spaceship captain awakens to find his wife and half the spaceship are missing, and he struggles with the ship’s AI (artificial intelligence) to discover the truth.” Lunt, who with his wife built the set used in SLCC’s 4,000-square-foot soundstage at its Center for Arts and Media, wrapped up shooting last fall. “In my opinion, it turned out pretty good,” he says. “There are quite a few things I wish I could have had more time with and had better pre-production, but there was a definite time crunch when it comes to attempting something this ambitious in one semester.”
The film isn’t yet available to the public as it makes its rounds through film festivals. Dylan has already had a few offers from streaming services to show it there. “I think people should see it just as inspiration for what you can accomplish in one college semester,” he says. “A lot of people thought my idea was crazy and would be impossible to pull off, but sometimes it’s worth just going all in.” Dylan, who has several scripts “in the works,” wants to direct feature films once the current COVID-19 pandemic allows and says a “plan B” would only be an “excuse for not reaching my goals.”
The spaceship used for Circadian was one of the most impressive student-built sets Film Directing and Techniques assistant professor David Lehleitner has ever seen. “He used many recycled materials to keep costs low, but he and his family put in so many hours building and crafting that it equals a Hollywood set,” David says. “It’s so good, we kept it and put it in storage.”
The sets Syd VanRoosendaal uses for films while at SLCC are some of the largest and most complicated student productions David sees in his classes. Syd, who is non-binary and uses the pronouns they/them/their, hopes to graduate after this fall, also with an associate’s degree in Film Production. In the meantime, they are debuting around the world with their film Announcement. Still in the beginning stages of film festival submissions, Announcement has already won Best Student Short in the Frostbite International Film Festival and Best Student Short in the Paris Play Film Festival. Announcement is also an Official Selection in the Genre Celebration Film Festival, which also awarded Best Score to the film. Inspired by real-life events in their own family, the suspenseful trailer for the film starts out with a pregnant woman talking about telling her family the news, and as credits roll at the end you hear a scream that is cut off.
“I truly don’t have a plan B,” Syd says. “I want to write and direct films, like I have been for the last 10 years. I have an interest in true crime, but real dead bodies make me queasy. My plans now are to make another short. I’ve been writing this short about eating disorders, addiction and an abusive relationship, all amplified through body horror.” Syd plans to forge ahead during the pandemic toward graduation, look at four-year schools, submit to more festivals and “continue to get my work seen.”
Their professor says the two student films winning awards right now are up against films from all over the world, including some from top-rated film schools. “For SLCC students to not only be accepted into several festivals, but to come away with wins is a major accomplishment,” David says. “Both students worked harder than anyone will ever realize to make these films polished, finished and festival ready. Both spent over a year on each film, but the results are starting to pay off – and they deserve these accolades and more!”
Comments
Post a Comment