1st International San Joaquin Film Festival
BY IVAN MOORE
IN THIS ARTICLE:
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Lights, Camera...
The sense of expectation and possibility when the lights go down at a film premiere is unmatched in almost all other arts. On the evening of June 4 at the Opening Night Gala of the First International San Joaquin Film Festival, a full house of patrons at Stockton’s Bob Hope Theatre experienced that anticipation for the first time in Stockton history.
After a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside and a reception in the theatre’s foyer, the audience took their seats to view the festival’s first film, “Nonna’s Trip,” from Mexican director Sebastian Silva. Later, some attended an opening night party on the rooftop terrace of the Hotel Stockton, catered by Paragary’s Restaurant and featuring the Latin jazz ensemble The Randy Sandoli Quartet. Others stayed for the night’s second feature, the Spanish film “The Clown and the Fuhrer” by director Eduard Cortés.
The night’s event was the start of a five-day festival program which included screenings of 54 films from 18 countries at Stockton venues including Matinee Video Lounge, the Empire Theatre, and University of the Pacific. Festivalgoers could attend presentations featuring conversations with filmmakers and actors, the Haggin Museum’s Celebrate! Mexico Family Festival, breakfast mixers with filmmakers, a Saturday night party at Chitiva’s restaurant in the Waterfront Warehouse, and a closing awards ceremony at Faye Spanos Concert Hall.
The festival, presented by San Joaquin Cross Cultural Media (SJCCM) is the first of its kind in the Stockton area – a locally organized film festival with world-class ambitions, designed to showcase the best Stockton has to offer while providing a stage for filmmakers of all backgrounds in an area known for its cultural diversity.
SJCCM founder Sophoan Sorn has been the beating heart at the center of the festival’s origin. The 23 year-old Cambodian-born artist’s life has been a journey transcending clashing cultures to find beauty.
Before his birth in 1985, Sorn’s family escaped the upheaval in the aftermath of the nightmarish reign of the Khmer Rouge to live in a refugee camp on the Thailand-Cambodia border. His father Sophat is a Christian pastor – relatively uncommon in the Cambodian culture. Sophoan explains that his family’s involvement with their church helped give them the opportunity to immigrate to America in 1991 to start a new life. As a result, Sorn says his faith has always been a major reason why he believes in the importance in bridging gaps between cultures.
With his family’s support, an unrelenting curiosity, and a love for the arts, Sorn has become what he calls a “cultural entrepreneur,” which he explains is a balance between artist and businessperson. He owns and operates a multimedia production business, and produces pictorial and film documentaries.
“I believe it’s important to invest in our community,” Sorn says of living and working in Stockton. “I know I wouldn’t be the same person if I was living in another country, or another place.”
In 2005, Sorn formed Stockton Crossing Cultural Bridges, which later became SJCCM. SJCCM – made up of Sorn and vice presidents Arlene Galindo, Jessica Hernandez, and Shane Williamson along with a consortium of advisors from educational, cultural, and business groups from the community – is focused on presenting the annual San Joaquin Film Festival, cultivating local arts, and encouraging future filmmakers in the community.
With a grant from the Stockton Arts Commission and support from community groups like City of Stockton, Jacoby Center, Downtown Stockton Alliance, Miracle Mile Improvement Association, and the San Joaquin County Office of Education (among many others), the inaugural festival truly became a community affair.
“Even before the festival went on, I thought of it as a success in itself from the friends and partnerships we’ve made,” Sorn says.
In the coming year, SJCCM will organize the second San Joaquin International Film festival while working to bring screenings of foreign and independent films to the Stockton area year-round.
For more information on the San Joaquin International Film Festival and the SJCCM, visit www.sjccm.org.
After a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside and a reception in the theatre’s foyer, the audience took their seats to view the festival’s first film, “Nonna’s Trip,” from Mexican director Sebastian Silva. Later, some attended an opening night party on the rooftop terrace of the Hotel Stockton, catered by Paragary’s Restaurant and featuring the Latin jazz ensemble The Randy Sandoli Quartet. Others stayed for the night’s second feature, the Spanish film “The Clown and the Fuhrer” by director Eduard Cortés.
The night’s event was the start of a five-day festival program which included screenings of 54 films from 18 countries at Stockton venues including Matinee Video Lounge, the Empire Theatre, and University of the Pacific. Festivalgoers could attend presentations featuring conversations with filmmakers and actors, the Haggin Museum’s Celebrate! Mexico Family Festival, breakfast mixers with filmmakers, a Saturday night party at Chitiva’s restaurant in the Waterfront Warehouse, and a closing awards ceremony at Faye Spanos Concert Hall.
The festival, presented by San Joaquin Cross Cultural Media (SJCCM) is the first of its kind in the Stockton area – a locally organized film festival with world-class ambitions, designed to showcase the best Stockton has to offer while providing a stage for filmmakers of all backgrounds in an area known for its cultural diversity.
SJCCM founder Sophoan Sorn has been the beating heart at the center of the festival’s origin. The 23 year-old Cambodian-born artist’s life has been a journey transcending clashing cultures to find beauty.
Before his birth in 1985, Sorn’s family escaped the upheaval in the aftermath of the nightmarish reign of the Khmer Rouge to live in a refugee camp on the Thailand-Cambodia border. His father Sophat is a Christian pastor – relatively uncommon in the Cambodian culture. Sophoan explains that his family’s involvement with their church helped give them the opportunity to immigrate to America in 1991 to start a new life. As a result, Sorn says his faith has always been a major reason why he believes in the importance in bridging gaps between cultures.
With his family’s support, an unrelenting curiosity, and a love for the arts, Sorn has become what he calls a “cultural entrepreneur,” which he explains is a balance between artist and businessperson. He owns and operates a multimedia production business, and produces pictorial and film documentaries.
“I believe it’s important to invest in our community,” Sorn says of living and working in Stockton. “I know I wouldn’t be the same person if I was living in another country, or another place.”
In 2005, Sorn formed Stockton Crossing Cultural Bridges, which later became SJCCM. SJCCM – made up of Sorn and vice presidents Arlene Galindo, Jessica Hernandez, and Shane Williamson along with a consortium of advisors from educational, cultural, and business groups from the community – is focused on presenting the annual San Joaquin Film Festival, cultivating local arts, and encouraging future filmmakers in the community.
With a grant from the Stockton Arts Commission and support from community groups like City of Stockton, Jacoby Center, Downtown Stockton Alliance, Miracle Mile Improvement Association, and the San Joaquin County Office of Education (among many others), the inaugural festival truly became a community affair.
“Even before the festival went on, I thought of it as a success in itself from the friends and partnerships we’ve made,” Sorn says.
In the coming year, SJCCM will organize the second San Joaquin International Film festival while working to bring screenings of foreign and independent films to the Stockton area year-round.
For more information on the San Joaquin International Film Festival and the SJCCM, visit www.sjccm.org.
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A Shining Success
By, Kevin Falls
If Go Film! instructors Erahm Christopher and Shane Williamson have anything to say about it, making it in Hollywood isn’t such a crazy dream for a Stockton kids to have.
Stockton native and television producer Kevin Falls is a case in point, though you wouldn’t know it by asking him.
“My two movies (“The Temp” and “Summer Catch”) had a combined box office [take] of maybe $40 million. That's about how much they spent on Sarah Jessica Parker's shoes for “Sex and the City,” Falls jokes.
His movie work may not have been a shining success, but with credits on one of TV’s most lauded shows and four primetime Emmys to his name, Falls’ work in television could certainly be called so.
The Lincoln High graduate originally wanted to go into acting, and appeared in plays at Delta College and Stockton Civic Theatre.
“Stage fright rendered me a writer,” says Falls, who attributes his skills with a pen to the wit he had to develop to survive the dinner table at childhood home.
“That was a tough house,” Falls says. “Maybe the hardest writers’ room I’ve worked in, because it was survival of the wittiest.”
Falls’ father encouraged him to pursue a writing career, which he entered as an intern sports reporter for an Oregon newspaper.
“But I wasn’t a good reporter and I couldn’t add up a box score to save my life,” Falls admits. “I even made words up… I decided if I was going to make stuff up, I should try to write movies. And so I did. Of course, it took a long time to crack through.”
When Falls did break through, it was with the critically acclaimed but short-lived sitcom “SportsNight,” on which he was co-executive producer. There, he met producer Aaron Sorkin, who brought Falls to work on “The West Wing” after “SportsNight” was cancelled.
While he considers his work on “The West Wing” as a high point in his career, he says he’d trade it all for one more season of “Journeyman,” the show he created that aired last fall on NBC for just one season. Now Falls, like many of the show's loyal fans, is hoping “Journeyman” will make it to DVD.
In the meantime, Falls is developing a new project for Sony which will be pitched to networks this summer. He's reticent to divulge details until the show is picked up.
Falls lives in Sherman Oaks with his wife and two teenage sons.
“It's home, but then, I still feel like I'm visiting,” Falls says of living in southern California. “They'll never get the northern California out of me.”
If Go Film! instructors Erahm Christopher and Shane Williamson have anything to say about it, making it in Hollywood isn’t such a crazy dream for a Stockton kids to have.
Stockton native and television producer Kevin Falls is a case in point, though you wouldn’t know it by asking him.
“My two movies (“The Temp” and “Summer Catch”) had a combined box office [take] of maybe $40 million. That's about how much they spent on Sarah Jessica Parker's shoes for “Sex and the City,” Falls jokes.
His movie work may not have been a shining success, but with credits on one of TV’s most lauded shows and four primetime Emmys to his name, Falls’ work in television could certainly be called so.
The Lincoln High graduate originally wanted to go into acting, and appeared in plays at Delta College and Stockton Civic Theatre.
“Stage fright rendered me a writer,” says Falls, who attributes his skills with a pen to the wit he had to develop to survive the dinner table at childhood home.
“That was a tough house,” Falls says. “Maybe the hardest writers’ room I’ve worked in, because it was survival of the wittiest.”
Falls’ father encouraged him to pursue a writing career, which he entered as an intern sports reporter for an Oregon newspaper.
“But I wasn’t a good reporter and I couldn’t add up a box score to save my life,” Falls admits. “I even made words up… I decided if I was going to make stuff up, I should try to write movies. And so I did. Of course, it took a long time to crack through.”
When Falls did break through, it was with the critically acclaimed but short-lived sitcom “SportsNight,” on which he was co-executive producer. There, he met producer Aaron Sorkin, who brought Falls to work on “The West Wing” after “SportsNight” was cancelled.
While he considers his work on “The West Wing” as a high point in his career, he says he’d trade it all for one more season of “Journeyman,” the show he created that aired last fall on NBC for just one season. Now Falls, like many of the show's loyal fans, is hoping “Journeyman” will make it to DVD.
In the meantime, Falls is developing a new project for Sony which will be pitched to networks this summer. He's reticent to divulge details until the show is picked up.
Falls lives in Sherman Oaks with his wife and two teenage sons.
“It's home, but then, I still feel like I'm visiting,” Falls says of living in southern California. “They'll never get the northern California out of me.”
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Sowing the Seeds of the Future
Filmmaker Erahm Christopher says there’s not much difference between working on a farm and working on a film.
“In both, you start with nothing – an idea, like a seed,” says Christopher, the inaugural San Joaquin Film Festival’s Ambassador Award honoree. “You work with it and hope it will grow into something people will want.”
The son of state senator Michael Machado, Christopher grew up on his family’s Linden farm, where he acquired a work ethic and set of values he carries into his craft.
Erahm uses surname “Christopher” in honor of his late brother, who died in a tractor accident in 1998. At the time, a combination of survivor’s guilt and a sense of responsibility had Christopher rethinking his Hollywood aspirations.
“I was ready to throw acting away,” he says. But his parents supported his dream – they thought it was what his brother would want.
Christopher soon returned to Hollywood and refocused his creative energy to work behind the camera. His wife, Emilie, then encouraged him to enroll in the film program at Concordia University in Montreal, where the couple and their infant daughter, Madelie, currently live.
Now the 32-year old filmmaker has dozens of producing and directing credits on projects he feels “make a difference.”
To Christopher, this means producing films which offer viewers new perspectives on people who might otherwise be misunderstood, from the unorthodox protagonists of his short films “Edmund” and “Devil’s Rose” to the gritty genuineness of the subjects of his award-winning documentary series “Teen Truth.”
Christopher spent the summer in Stockton devoting his time to an educational film workshop called Go Film!, which he and fellow filmmaker Shane Williamson founded as a creative outlet for teens to learn skills needed to write, produce, shoot, and direct a short film.
“I never had a mentor when it came to filmmaking when I was young,” Christopher explains. “I never really had someone to take me under his wing.” Go Film! is Christopher and Williamson’s way of sowing the seeds of the future of Stockton filmmaking by introducing local students to a skill set which could lead into a lifelong hobby or career.
Christopher now plans to migrate from Montreal back to the San Joaquin area. The lack of filmmaking opportunities in Stockton had previously halted his decision to move back home.
“As a professional filmmaker, there aren’t many chances to make a film in this area,” he admits.
Christopher will now join a small but growing group of young area filmmakers who are seeking to change that.
“We’re laying the foundation,” Christopher says.
More information: www.ec-films.com
“In both, you start with nothing – an idea, like a seed,” says Christopher, the inaugural San Joaquin Film Festival’s Ambassador Award honoree. “You work with it and hope it will grow into something people will want.”
The son of state senator Michael Machado, Christopher grew up on his family’s Linden farm, where he acquired a work ethic and set of values he carries into his craft.
Erahm uses surname “Christopher” in honor of his late brother, who died in a tractor accident in 1998. At the time, a combination of survivor’s guilt and a sense of responsibility had Christopher rethinking his Hollywood aspirations.
“I was ready to throw acting away,” he says. But his parents supported his dream – they thought it was what his brother would want.
Christopher soon returned to Hollywood and refocused his creative energy to work behind the camera. His wife, Emilie, then encouraged him to enroll in the film program at Concordia University in Montreal, where the couple and their infant daughter, Madelie, currently live.
Now the 32-year old filmmaker has dozens of producing and directing credits on projects he feels “make a difference.”
To Christopher, this means producing films which offer viewers new perspectives on people who might otherwise be misunderstood, from the unorthodox protagonists of his short films “Edmund” and “Devil’s Rose” to the gritty genuineness of the subjects of his award-winning documentary series “Teen Truth.”
Christopher spent the summer in Stockton devoting his time to an educational film workshop called Go Film!, which he and fellow filmmaker Shane Williamson founded as a creative outlet for teens to learn skills needed to write, produce, shoot, and direct a short film.
“I never had a mentor when it came to filmmaking when I was young,” Christopher explains. “I never really had someone to take me under his wing.” Go Film! is Christopher and Williamson’s way of sowing the seeds of the future of Stockton filmmaking by introducing local students to a skill set which could lead into a lifelong hobby or career.
Christopher now plans to migrate from Montreal back to the San Joaquin area. The lack of filmmaking opportunities in Stockton had previously halted his decision to move back home.
“As a professional filmmaker, there aren’t many chances to make a film in this area,” he admits.
Christopher will now join a small but growing group of young area filmmakers who are seeking to change that.
“We’re laying the foundation,” Christopher says.
More information: www.ec-films.com