{"id":268918,"date":"2024-06-18T17:09:08","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T00:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/?p=268918"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:04:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T23:04:50","slug":"beverly-hills-film-festival-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/beverly-hills-film-festival-hollywood\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bros in Beverly Hills Film Festival: A Taste of Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Above):<\/strong> Movie posters of various short films screened at the 24th Beverly Hills Film Festival held at the historic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. (Vansh A. Gupta\/Siliconeer)<\/em><\/p>\n

It was a sunny summer day in Hollywood that saw Siliconeer\u2019s Vansh Gupta, filmmaker Rohan Kumar, writer Chandan Hegde<\/strong>, and a couple of other friends enter the historic TCL Chinese Theater. The purpose of the visit was to pay respects to Kumar by watching the premiere of his senior thesis, \u201cPenance,\u201d at the Beverly Hills Film Festival<\/a>. Chandan Hegde shares his experience at one of Hollywood\u2019s most prestigious independent film expos.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Glimpses
Glimpses of the 24th Beverly Hills Film Festival held at the historic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. This was a red-carpet photo area for rising filmmakers. (Vansh A. Gupta\/Siliconeer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Chinese Theater itself, one of the four main venues where the event has been held historically, is an imposing Chinese-style pagoda, complete with a banner of a menacing dragon at the top and two marble statues of lions guarding the entrance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the group made its way into the theater built in the 1920s, and famous for hosting several Oscars, and the premiere of \u201cStar Wars,\u201d they were greeted by a hall featuring several legendary photographs and props from filmmaking history: one of which, the original stone tablets displaying the Ten Commandments<\/i>, given by God<\/i> to Moses<\/i> in \u201cThe Ten Commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hall opened into a sprawling festival floor, a mid-gray pit adorned with countless posters for independent films. To one side of the ground floor, near the entrance, was a photo station featuring a green vine-draped background and bold yellow letters indicating \u201cBeverly Hills Film Festival 2024.\u201d In the dead center was a booth for redeeming tickets, which must be bought online before the event and sold for blocks of 7 films each, manned by stressed-out-looking volunteers facing hordes of festival attendees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Movie
Movie posters of various short films screened at the 24th Beverly Hills Film Festival held at the historic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. (Vansh A. Gupta\/Siliconeer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a few moments of deliberation, the group made its way to the upper floor of the Chinese Theater, into Booth 7, where the film block that included Rohan Kumar\u2019s film, \u201cPenance,\u201d was being shown.<\/p>\n

Before the premieres of the films, filmmakers briefly described their films and introduced themselves. Nearly all were aspiring film students, either from Kumar\u2019s alma mater<\/i>, Chapman University\u2019s Dodge Film School, or other local schools with film programs. Many of these young filmmakers use the festival as a launchpad to showcase their talents, win awards, and gain important industry connections.<\/p>\n

Nearly all of the films were of the horror genre, and the better horror films among the showcase included elements of dark comedy. The order of the films was not announced beforehand, so after each film finished, we were giddy with anticipation as to whether the subsequent film would be \u201cPenance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cPenance\u201d
\u201cPenance\u201d film poster (Photo Courtesy: Penance Team)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The group had to wait a while, though, as \u201cPenance\u201d was shown towards the end. Compared to the horror films in the block, \u201cPenance\u201d was different in character as a neo-Western, echoing themes of isolation and brotherhood that were prominent fixtures of life in the American Old West. Inspired by Rohan Kumar, the film\u2019s producer, and his interest in Old West culture, \u201cPenance\u201d is a story about Boyd<\/i>, a lonely oil rig worker with a dark past, who one day meets a very polite colleague at his station, named Guillermo.<\/i> I will not spoil too much of the film, for it is best savored by watching online, but it was truly unique among the showcase.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After the 7 films in the block were shown, audiences were told to rate each film out of 5 stars. Of course, we in the group rated \u201cPenance\u201d a full 5 stars, and we will not disclose our ratings for the others. Whether the audiences\u2019 ratings are actually used in the awards process, remains to be seen. The film festival\u2019s website clarifies that a panel of industry judges is heavily involved in judging films.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ground
Ground zero team behind the short film, \u201cPenance,\u201d (l-r): Producer Rohan Kumar, Director Julian Tuttle, Writer Lucas Brawner, and Cinematographer Michael Placenti (Photo: Sabrina Gies)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The film festival experience was eye-opening for a group that had little exposure to filmmaking culture. It was my first film festival ever, and in many ways, I could see similarities to the enthusiasm and excitement of more familiar conventions, such as TiE.<\/p>\n

It is important to explore unfamiliar industries, as we can borrow ideas and aspects from them and apply them to our work. Apple, for example, though it is primarily a technology company, is largely successful because of its design ethos and association with creativity, both of which were inspired by Steve Jobs\u2019s background in font design.<\/p>\n

For our group, an eclectic mix of biology PhDs, creatives, and engineers, the Beverly Hills Film Festival was an enriching event. One that we hope to experience more of in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Above): Movie posters of various short films screened at the 24th Beverly Hills Film Festival held at the historic TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. (Vansh A. Gupta\/Siliconeer) It was a sunny summer day in Hollywood that saw Siliconeer\u2019s Vansh Gupta, filmmaker Rohan Kumar, writer Chandan Hegde, and a couple of other friends enter the historic…<\/p>\n

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