Inaugural film fest showcases aspiring filmmakers

Camarillo Community Theatre launched its inaugural film festival last Sunday to an appreciative audience. Local residents wrote, produced and directed their films on minimal budgets, using friends as actors and area businesses as sets.

The festival began with four shorts, followed by an intermission before the feature presentation. The evening kicked off with “Demons Racing Werewolves From Outer Space,” a blackandwhite spoof of ’50s low-budget horror/sciencefiction flicks. Director Patrick Beckstead is a student at Moorpark College and lives in Moorpark.

The film was created by the actors of CCT’s production of “Grease” in 2007 as entertainment for the cast party. As such the film is pure pleasure. Aliens arrive to conquer Earth, mad scientists plot schemes and teenagers neck in the park, unaware of the monster behind them.

Beyond that the story line is anyone’s guess. The special effects are gloriously cheesy and the boom mike is visible in shots. This film makes “Plan Nine From Outer Space” look like a masterpiece. A major drawback is that the film was shot for YouTube and didn’t translate well to a big screen.

Next up was “Half Past Eleven,” written and directed by Andrew Metzger of Newbury Park. This film won an award from Moorpark College for best writing/ directing. A little girl can’t sleep because a monster is hiding in her bedroom closet. Her father grows annoyed at her cries for help and tries to convince his daughter that the monster doesn’t exist. The short ends with a humorous twist.

“Trains,” by Brian Stewart, records the conversations of two sets of friends at a coffeehouse. A guy and a gal have broken off their respective relationships—and encounter each other in a cute way that leaves no doubt as to where their chance encounter will go.

The nine-minute short “The Girl in the Window” by Kellen Moore, 20, is a charming story told in rhyme of a little girl who’s too frightened of the world to leave her treehouse— yes, the cartoonlike house is inside an enormous tree trunk. The actors, all children, are remarkably camera-savvy for their ages. The off-screen narrator is professional actor Victor Brandt of “The Cat in the Hat.”

The use of animation and bluescreen effects create some stunning visuals.

Moore, a film student at Chapman University, created his first film at age 11. Another one of his movie’s “Water Damage” won best film at the Malibu Celebration of Film Festival. “Window” is touring film festivals around the country.

James Ward’s “Identity Theft,” previously shown at the Ventura Film Festival, is a thriller about someone who can swap their mind into another person’s body—against their will. One victim is Matt, a young man who’s just won a huge sweepstakes. He meets Karen, a lovely blonde, in a bar and brings her home. But when Matt wakes up the next day, his mind is inside Karen’s body. Actress Laura Weintraub plays the role well, with comedy and frustration as a man adjusting to life as a female.

The thief has no intention of swapping bodies back—as “Matt,” the villain can collect the lottery prize. Karen/Matt tries to solicit help from his best friend, Brian, and his ex-girlfriend (although why Karen/Matt would go to someone he broke up with is a mystery).

The thief has been operating for centuries, continually seeking new bodies to inhabit. The film opens with the thief living in the Civil War era, with footage of a period battle shot at the annual Battle of the Blue and the Grey reenactment event in Moorpark.

The theater plans to present the festival next year with different movies. The public is invited to submit original films on either VHS or DVD. If enough child-friendly films are submitted, a separate “family night” will be offered in 2010.

For more information, call the theater at (805) 388-5716.