Melissa Toren, the executive director of KCAT TV (Comcast), gazed at the red-carpet scene surrounding her, Monday morning, as student actors, directors, writers and cinematographers filed into the Los Gatos Theatre for the big end to summer camp.
She lifted her hand to her heart.
“I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I’m more excited for them.”
There were 202 students and seven counselors (officially, counselors-in-training) who took part in the program, which involved putting on live TV shows, producing commercials, recording podcasts and making short films.
And now, they were getting the chance to also help throw a glitzy premiere.
On the bill at the Summer Media Camp Film Fest were “The Last Westernbottom,” “The Deaths of KCAT,” “The Search for the Crown,” “Potato Noir: the Crispy Cost of Crime,” “The Ring” and “Dumbkirk: Two Nines.”
There’d been a few technical glitches to be sorted—but the KCAT team was on it.
“Hey, let me know when people go in,” 18-year-old Zachary Benitez radioed from where he stood next to Toren.
As KCAT’s TV manager—a recent promotion—he helped with technical aspects of the camp.
“I also taught them podcasting,” he said. “They get real-world experience. They get to broadcast live on TV.”
Toren explained that KCAT is focused on helping encourage people to pursue their film and television passions.
“Our overarching theme is ‘next-gen storytellers and creators,’” she said. “That’s what we do.”
This initial step on students’ “exhilarating multimedia journey” was also an education in journalism and scriptwriting, she added.
Ashton Ross, a 16-year-old counselor going into his junior year at Los Gatos High School, was dressed in Old West garb, alongside fellow mini-stars, in the lobby.
“I’m about to present a Western film,” he said, noting his parents are from Arizona and his grandfather is from Mexico; he’s been delving further into this subject matter on his own time, too. “I’m currently working on my film about California history: ‘California Long Story Short.’”
A few years ago, Ross was one of the KCAT campers.
The short films themselves had intricate storylines—sometimes painstakingly genre-adherent, in other cases more meandering and surreal. They incorporated Los Gatos-specific humor (for example, a joke about the pain of having to commute to Milpitas for work) and seemed to tell the broader tale of a KCAT cinematic universe (in one case referred to as the “potatoverse,” due to a recurrent spud motif).
In “The Last Westernbottom,” children at the saloon drink from coffee cups instead of beer glasses.
It was a fitting start to a program that allowed adults to have a look at the community through the eyes of its younger residents and visitors.
Melody Pan, 10, played the interviewer in the serial-killer flick “The Deaths of KCAT.”
“I feel like it has the best idea,” she said in an interview afterwards, adding she enjoyed giving one of the counselors a makeover for a crucial plot point. “It was so funny.”
Co-star Ainsley Reys, a 9-year-old from San Jose, said the film was way scarier on the big screen.
“It was fun,” she said, revealing how one hilarious moment came into being. “I chose to be clumsy.”
Her older brother Logan, 11, said it was cool to see their work presented on the CineLux silver screen.
“It was big!” he exclaimed.
He downplayed the workload involved in bringing their creations to life.
“I have a good memory,” he said. “So, I just memorized my lines.”
Their mother, Liza, was clearly proud.
“It was great to see all of it,” she said.
With “The Search for the Crown,” it started to become clear that the same camp counselor was going to be killed off—like a South Park trope—in every production.
It told the story of a princess hoping to get her crown back, whose journey intersects with other characters who have their own motivations.
“Potato Noir: the Crispy Cost of Crime,” sketched out a major dual between two cult-like sects—Wafflism and Potatoism—to the toe-tapping pace of a gritty 1950s black-and-white spectacle.
Particular highlights were the foley work and the “Godzilla vs. King Kong”-style opening graphic of a giant waffle and a potato towering over a city skyline, slowly approaching.
“The Ring” played on elements of “Star Wars,” “Kill Bill” and the “Godfather” to guide its action.
Each film was introduced by a skit relating to the content of the upcoming selection.
However, prior to the ensemble-based “Dumbkirk: Two Nines,” Toren got serious.
“I’m overwhelmed,” she said. “I don’t want to cry.”
Her voice broke up a bit, but she regained her composure.
“KCAT generates magic,” she said. “Their passion just comes through.”
She talked a bit about what went into setting up a creative space for kids to catch the media bug, and described how they channel this in a productive direction, for example with cover letter-writing advice.
“I hope you had a great summer, because we sure did,” she said. “Thanks for giving us your kids for a week.”
And with that, moviegoers were treated to another dualistic clash, one that referenced horror film “Us” using a rework of Luniz’ song “I Got 5 on It.”
It explored whether or not pineapple slices will reign supreme on pizzas everywhere.
While we won’t give away the ending of the movie, we will say it caused this reporter to immediately head out and purchase a personal-sized Hawaiian pizza afterwards.
