Two West Windsor-Plainsboro High School graduates are following in the footsteps of two other filmmakers from West Windsor, Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie. Both Amy Kawabata and Curran Bhatia will have their films screened on Wednesday, July 18, the first evening of the Princeton Public Library’s annual Student Film and Video Festival.##M:[more]##
Singer, Class of 1984, and McQuarrie, Class of 1986, have recently joined together for the filming of “Valkyrie,” a controversial film about Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the German Army officer who tried to do away with Hitler during World War II. Singer, who researched Nazi history for his film, “Apt Pupil,” has also directed “Superman Returns” and two “X-Men” films. McQuarrie won an Oscar for “Usual Suspects,” directed by Singer.
Kawabata, a 2005 graduate of High School South and now a rising sophomore majoring in animated film at Rochester Institute of Technology, will have her animated film, “The Umbrella,” screened.
Although Kawabata had worked on shorter films previously, she was given 10 weeks to complete “The Umbrella.” “This was my first chance to work for an extended period of time on a single film,” she says. “Given the time, I decided to use a traditional hand-drawn cel style and digitally color the cels, a technique commonly used in television cartoons.”
“The film is about a little boy who doesn’t like the new umbrella he receives from his mother. It’s also about appreciating what you’ve been given — not only material things, but the intangible as well,” says Kawabata.
Bhatia, who graduated in 2004 from High School North and is a rising senior at New York University, will have the world premiere of his feature film, “The Boxer,” screened.
When Bhatia first pursued filmmaking in eighth grade at Community Middle School with the elective television production, he was awarded the best editing award for his music video. During his senior year at North he led a group project by writing and directing a 20-minute film. The same year he founded the cinematography club at North, “as a way for students to show their original work to their peers and also discuss and analyze film.” He also founded the High School North Film Festival, featuring original pieces by students.
During the summer after his freshman year of college he participated in the New York Film Academy session at Princeton University, where he wrote and directed three short films and one longer feature. “After my NYFA experience I decided to pursue a bachelor’s in cinema studies at NYU, in addition to the bachelor’s in economics I was already pursuing.”
He was soon able to organize a few actors and friends to assist him with “The Boxer,” which he wrote, directed, edited, paid for, and produced. Filming began in December. “The film was shot digitally on a Sony camera and filmed mostly near my dorm at NYU around the South Street Seaport,” he says.
“The film is about an up and coming boxer in New York City. He has his own style and is working his way up the ranks. At the same time, his relationship with his girlfriend begins to get very serious. Unfortunately, in this case, these two passions cannot co-exist. The boxer is left with the impossible decision to choose between fighting and love,” says Bhatia.
— Lynn Miller
Student Film and Video Festival, Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street, 609-924-8822. Free. www.princetonlibrary.org. Wednesday and Thursday, July 18 and 19, 7 p.m.
