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Student Starts New Film Festival

Austin Flickman
Austin Fickman

Austin Fickman discovered a passion for film making as a youngster. Now 18, the Laguna Beach High School senior has taken it to the next level by founding the Laguna Film Festival, which will showcase an array of films made by young and emerging film makers Friday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 18 at the Regency Directors Cut Cinema in Laguna Niguel.

The son of director-producer Andy Fickman and Hollywood manager Elissa Elkin, film making appears to be in his genes. Fickman got his first camera at age 8, a tape-based Sony HandyCam. He founded a film club at LBHS two years ago and last year won a regional PTA award known as Reflections.

He got the idea for a film festival around May or June and uses social media to reach young film makers and backers. Altogether, he sifted through 1,000 submissions from 69 countries in three months. “The quality of films was beyond anything I ever suspected including the stories that the filmmakers are telling,” he said.

The festival line-up includes 80 short films in an array of genres as well as youth and student film maker showcases. An opening reception will be held Friday at the theater, 25471 Rancho Niguel Rd., in Laguna Niguel.

Fickman’s passion is comedy but he has begun to delve into social issues with “Take a Stand,” his film depicting the realities of bullying. “I do a little of everything, editing, writing, directing. Writing my own content matters but the collaborative process gives me a cool feeling too,” he said.

 

 

Filmmaker Presents Award-Winning Vietnam Documentary

Veteran Returns to Vietnam to Conquer Fears, Shares Story

Chris Upham cruises a river in Vietnam while shooting a documentary film.
Chris Upham cruises a river in Vietnam while shooting a documentary film.

“Return to Dak To,” the award-winning 49-minute documentary about five Army veterans who return to Vietnam 40 years after the fall of Saigon, will be shown at Seven Degrees in Laguna Beach on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.

Former Laguna Beach resident Christopher Upham, the film’s producer/writer, will introduce the documentary and answer audience questions at the conclusion. Early in his career, Upham worked on various assignments for MacGillivary-Freeman Films and The Laguna News-Post.

“Telling stories is my way of coping with the war,” Upham said. Upham’s unique situation as both a fellow veteran and filmmaker allows him an intimate reach into each vet’s personal battles that linger as invisible scars, raising questions about the personal cost of moral injury and aftermath of war.

The film has been featured at three festivals and recently screened at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

 

 

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