Film Festival - Documentary
☆ THE LUNA COLLECTIVE DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL ☆
Making Elvis
BY Zoé Kraft
My favorite projects are the ones that aren’t planned. I went on a road trip with a couple of friends to film a music video for Alex Aller and when I got back, we had captured so many genuine moments in the in between that I wanted to make sure the trip in its entirety was documented as well. What I find interesting is that artists dedicate so much of their lives making beautiful things, without ever realizing how beautiful they themselves are.
Both Wearing Stripes
By Zoe-Manon LeCheminant
This was originally created as my senior thesis film. In a way, it really does feel like a bookend to my time at UC Santa Cruz. I spent much of my time there constantly experiencing both physical and mental discomfort, all to have it resolved during my last year. For the most part, that part of my life has come to a close. Still, I often find myself reflecting on that time in my life. Looking back, I cannot believe that the reason for my pain wasn't discovered sooner. I cannot believe how much pain I put up with and pushed to the side. I cannot believe how much I blamed myself for how I felt. While I still worry for the future and the uncertainty that it holds in regards to my body and its well-being, one thing I am sure of, however, is how truly lucky I was and am. I am lucky to have had such a strong and loving support system in my mom and others around me. I am lucky to have made it through to the other side of the surgery healthy. I am lucky to have had good insurance in this one-sided and unforgiving system. With it, I was able to, for the most part, focus on just recovering. If I had not had access to it and the medical care that came with it, I do not know where I would be today. We need to do better for those who are not as lucky and are suffering because of it.
The Body Project (Episode 1)
By Alex Briseño
“The Body Project”, a short film series about my body and growing up with beauty standards in LA. The statement driving this film is about feeling invisible within the eyes of beauty that comes from an interview with my mom. I started thinking about what that meant to me; wondering if what I wanted as a child, to be beautiful in the eyes of the mainstream media, is what I still want. The idea for this project came from the need to treat and love myself better. This is a process of reflection, healing, and growth and is not meant to be hidden. I want it to feel real and accessible as I continue to create more episodes that live across social media platforms.
Gram
By Blake Miller
Before my grandfather died in 2019, I knew he was on his way out - so I set out to capture him. I knew the more personal my cinema, the better I’m at at capturing what I need to say. So I did that, and created a short film called “C.R.L.”
Then something funny happened. It wasn’t too long after his death that I started looking at his wife - my grandmother, or Gram as I call her - differently. Death teaches you everything you need to know about people: the good, the beautiful, the ugly, the horrible, the sublime. As she was reeling, I was seeing my grandmother for who she really was, as a woman, a wife, a Christian, and a human being. The man she loved for 56 years was gone, and the boy she raised for 22 years was examining the aftermath. Sooner than later, I knew I had to capture that too.
“Gram” is the story of Nella Calahan Lohr, and how the man she loved - Charles Ronald Lohr - was gone. “Gram” is a story of her looking back - letting her talk in the rawest of ways. “Gram” is a story about a resilient as hell woman, who’s seen a lot in 80 years of life, and speaking her version of it.
Most of all, “Gram” is a story about the woman I love the most: my grandma. And it’s my way of telling her she’ll never be alone. Until the very end.
VOTING CLOSED
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slowthai by Rosie Matheson 🤩 https://t.co/z7SDfFQ5iF
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RT @i_D: Ian Kenneth Bird photographs young punks on Polaroid: https://t.co/MKT0tMUqO9 https://t.co/a0tTl12ML5
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RT @AnOtherMagazine: #DreamHome – this isolated idyll in the mountains of Lanzarote 🌵 📸 via Nowness, photography by Clemence Blr 🔁 https://t.co/GUusdxD0cg