Asian American wins the LA Film Festival’s 72 Hour Film Competition

June 27, 2008 njaiyo 0 Comments

Last Monday night, at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Asian American director, Patricio Ginelsa won the festival's “72 Hour Film Competition”. This competition was a hard one as four members of The Film Independent Organization which hosts the Los Angeles Film Festival were chosen by random drawing last Wednesday, June 18th to create a short film. They were briefed on instructions for the Canon HD Cameras and then set loose on the film festival to make a short film. The short films were then screened on Monday night, June 23rd at the members party held in the Target Red Room. The short films were required to have the theme “Festival Stories” and were be shot entirely in the Westwood area.

Low and behold, Ginelsa came out on top as the winner of this event. His film titled, “Being Reel” is about scriptwriter Justin and his director friend, Ritchie, who are talking about their experience at the various screenings they have been to. During that time, Justin may have found the girl of his dreams at the festival because she has been attending all the same screenings as he is. The pragmatic Ritchie, shoots him down saying this girl can't be hot..

For Ginelsa, he states that “It was an emotional rollercoaster ride and even made more difficult because I was sick, had a sore throat, lost my voice and had to shoot in the middle of a summer heat wave. I went through a personal depression 2 years ago after a community controversy and then went through a creative dryspell I felt I could never recover from. This competition has rejuvenated me like nothing before! And the fact that I wrote a script in just 5 hours (when I couldnt write in 5 years) and then WIN (even though i wasnt 100 precent healthy) has inspired me heavily”.

“Being Reel” stars Phillip Jeanmarie, Bambu (formerly of the Native Guns), Kristine Sabella, Cyndee San Luis, and Mia Guzman.Check out “Being Reel”
Being Reel – Patricio Ginelsa from fatfreefilm on Vimeo.