Inaugural Orange Film Fest uplifts Chapman student films
Created by a group of students, Orange Film Fest will be held on April 29 at the Frida Cinema, featuring 10 short films and special guest speaker “Weird Al” Yankovic. Photo by DANIEL PEARSON, staff photographer
On junior strategic and corporate communication major Derrick Davidian’s phone screensaver there is the quote: “If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.”
The quote — which can be traced back to Muhammad Ali and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female elected president in Africa — is the motto that Davidian lives by. As the creator of YCONYC, a Chapman Radio show and podcast where he interviewed various student artists and business owners, Davidian has always had a knack for being creative. This was one of the driving factors behind his founding of the Orange Film Festival.
“(For as long as I can) remember I’ve loved to talk and entertain,” Davidian said. “I love to create and be part of projects.”
To learn more about the Orange Film Fest and buy tickets visit their website or Instagram. Graphic by Jake diTargiani
The first annual Orange Film Festival will be held on April 29 at the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, starting at 1 p.m. All 10 films that will be screened are Chapman student projects.
The festival was created by a diverse group of Chapman students, some film majors, others majoring in the business field and will include an orange carpet for students to walk along with four industry professional judges and a Q&A with special guest speaker “Weird Al” Yankovic.
“Over this last summer I was thinking, Chapman has a great film school, but I, as a non-Dodge student, can't see these films that are being screened,” Davidian said. “So I came up with this idea.”
As founder, Davidian has spent countless hours working to bring this festival to life. From pitching the idea to his friends to forming an assembly of volunteers, he told The Panther he strives to build a creative space that will promote student artistry.
“We’re for the students and we want the students to grow,” Davidian said. “The whole reason I started this was because I wanted to showcase our students’ films on the big screen and for the world.”
The 10 films were selected by Davidian’s internal programming team — a group of seven students who scored the films using a rubric that had categories including creativity, technical merit and more.
The panel of judges, made up of director/cinematographer Mikael Salomon, cinematographer Jeff Dolen, American Film Institute shorts programmer Nichole Young and Huffman Creative founder Ryan Huffman, will distribute three awards during the festival. The short film deemed Best Film will win a prize of $1,000, while Best Edit and Best Cinematography will receive $250 each.
Senior film production major Jane Simonetti, whose advanced production project “Polterguest” was selected for the festival, told The Panther she heard about the festival through FilmFreeway, a common submission portal for film festivals, and was excited when she learned her film had been selected.
“I was just so proud of my team,” Simonetti said. “I’m so glad we were able to shine through in all those submissions.”
Simonetti told The Panther that she has found film festivals to be wonderful networking and learning experiences. Davidian echoed Simonetti’s notion, telling The Panther that the panel of judges will watch and critique all 10 films.
“Being able to get really good feedback from four people who are prestigious in their field will be very really helpful and beneficial for the students,” Davidian said.
Junior creative producing major Mackenzie Holmes, who serves as the festival’s operations manager, joined the film festival team due to her background in event planning and passion for film.
“Something I truly believe (regarding) filmmaking is going out and just doing it,” Holmes said. “This is an event where we can lift up stories, which I thought was really interesting and important.”
There are a lot of aspects about the film festival that excite Davidian and his team. Davidian told The Panther securing “Weird Al” Yankovic was a large accomplishment, and even the smaller achievements, like creating 3D printed trophies for the winners, continued to ignite Davidian’s commitment to the film festival he’s created.
Davidian said he hopes to spread the film festival to University of Southern California, Loyola Marymount University and other colleges in the area next year.
“The goal is to make this the biggest college film festival in the country,” Davidian said. “This year was phase one — just (with) Chapman students to see how well it’s going to work. And it’s been working really well.”
Everyone associated with the festival, from its founder to its managers and even to the filmmakers and judges all share a unique love for film. This love is the same force that drives the success of Hollywood and radiates from Marion Knotts Studios whenever you walk by.
But on April 29, that love for film will be flowing from the Frida Cinema, where Davidian will get to see a year’s worth of hard work pay off. He told The Panther he hopes students will come and see the amazing work produced at Chapman or, if anything, bask in the glory of “Weird Al” Yankovic.
“I think Chapman has really talented students, and it would be a shame to not come and see them on the big screen,” Davidian said. “I always tell my team and myself that this is for the community and it’s bigger than us.”
Attendees can learn more about the Orange Film Fest and buy tickets on their website or Instagram.