This row from left: ‘A Fish Tale’; ‘La Liberté del L’Intérieur’; and ‘So Love Returns.’
Central Coast residents are a creative bunch.
This year, 20 films being screened at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival have a connection to our county — from funny shorts and romantic features to touching documentaries.
Read on to learn more about 10 of the entries making waves at this year’s film festival.
‘The Little Red Truck’
Director Rob Whitehair and producer Pam Voth
One little red truck. Hundreds of future stars.
For more than 30 years, the Missoula Children’s Theatre has brought live theater to communities around the world—spending just six days at each location to recruit a cast of kids, rehearse and stage a play.
“My first instinct was that somebody had made a film about them. Nobody had,” Rob Whitehair recalled.
He and wife Pam Voth spent a year following the theater company from Hollywood to Georgia.
Whitehair, who studied wildlife ecology at Cal Poly, first picked up a camera for a senior project about California condors. Although “The Little Red Truck” is Whitehair’s first foray outside of wildlife documentaries,” he said there’s little difference between filming kids and kit foxes.
“This film really turned me around. It’s restored my faith in humanity,” he said.
Screens with “Oberschule,” 1 p. m. Saturday, Palm Theatre, 817 Palm St., San Luis Obispo
‘School of Yoga’
Director/creator Mandana Talieh
Looking for enlightenment? Your best bet may be a little white furball called Wise Dog.
Animated in a colorful, whimsical style, Wise Dog guides viewers through a simple path to enlightenment in “School of Yoga.”
Arroyo Grande filmmaker Mandana Talieh said she created the Wise Dog character after reading “I Am That,” a book based on conversations with Indian sage Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
So far, she’s created a line of greeting cards and four animated shorts, including “School of Yoga.” She modeled the spiritual guide after her late pet, a schnauzer-miniature pinscher mix named Jimmi.
Talieh said she hopes to present spirituality in a way that’s more accessible for audiences — especially young people. “It just brings the message across in a different way,” she said.
Screens with “So Love Returns,” 4 p. m. Sunday, Palm Theatre
‘So Love Returns’
Director David Baumgarten and co-producer/cowriter Marianne Kennedy
More than four decades ago, David Baumgarten read Robert Nathan’s “So Love Returns” on a troop ship bound for Korea. Struck by the novel’s tale of love and hope, he vowed to make it into a film.
For years, the folk singer and his wife, county Women’s Shelter Program director Marianne Kennedy, tried to make the movie in Hollywood. They secured film rights, wrote screenplays and even made another film — “Melinda’s World.”
Last May, however, the Los Osos residents began working on “So Love Returns” in earnest—casting Chad Stevens as Lenny, a writer crushed by his wife’s death.
Finding an actress to play Kathleen, the mysterious woman who rescues Lenny’s young son, proved more challenging.
They discovered their star in Templeton High School graduate Tabatha Skanes. “We found just the perfect girl,” Baumgarten said.
They spent last summer shooting in Pismo Beach, Shell Beach and San Luis Obispo.
Screens with “School of Yoga,” 4 p. m. Sunday, Palm Theatre
‘A Fish Tale’
Director and writer Steve Silesky
There’s nothing quite like the love between man and fish.
When San Luis Obispo resident Steve Silesky chatted with a friend about his devotion to his dogs, his pal replied, “ ‘I know what you mean, Steve. That’s the way I feel about my fish.’ ”
“I thought, ‘There has to be a story there,’ ” Silesky recalled. “A Fish Tale” was born.
In this funny short, local actor Erik Stein plays Jerry, a man so devoted to his scaly pet that he ignores his wife and family. Central Coast favorites Jacqueline Hildebrand and Rosh Wright co-star.
Although one scene calls for Jerry’s fish to leap for freedom, the kindhearted Silesky said the action takes place off-camera.
“I couldn’t really take a fish and have it flopping on the floor,” he admitted.
Screens with “As Seen Through These Eyes,” 5 p. m. Monday; Downtown Centre Cinemas, 888 Marsh St., San Luis Obispo
‘Breakfast on Catalina’
Director Bradley Bennett and writer-producer Chris Sloan
The tagline for “Breakfast on Catalina” says it all: “Be careful who you fantasize about.”
When an aspiring writer encounters the movie star of his dreams at a Santa Barbara hotel, he’s forced to make a choice between his marriage and his celebrity obsession.
Chris Sloan’s screenplay explores the concept of celebrity.
“The people who are portrayed in the media as glamorous are almost more messed up than the average Joes who worship them,” he said.
Sloan teamed up with Cal Poly grad Bradley Bennett at a friend’s baby shower.
“When we first embarked on the project, we thought, ‘This is going to be a small, fun project,’ ” Bennett recalled. “Next thing we know, we have a full-scale production on our hands.”
They got help from a handful of Cal Poly grads, including local musician Mark Robertshaw and Alec Little, who handled audio production.
“It was a tremendous experience for everyone involved,” Bennett said.
Screens with “In A Day’s Time” and “Midnight Rail to Nowhere,” 7 p. m. Monday, Palm Theatre
‘Midnight Rail to Nowhere: Part One’
Director/writer Cameron Bowman and producer Layne Heggen
Emmett lives in a town with no exits and no options, overseen by a shadowy government that commands its citizens to kill. Finally pushed to his limit, he decides to leave town on a mysterious train whose passengers never return.
“Midnight Rail to Nowhere” chronicles “the events leading up to his decision to throw caution to the wind,” filmmaker Cameron Bowman said.
Shot over a month on a tiny budget, “Midnight Rail” is the first installment of a longer feature film, the San Luis Obispo resident explained.
Bowman and SLO producer Layne Heggen hope the 19- minute video will help them secure much-needed funding.
“My goal is to bring something new, something exciting, something that’s a little more ambitious,” Bowman said. “I don’t want to beat people over their heads with the same story.”
In addition to local stars Chaese Strelz, Michael Pellemeier, Cory Martin and Erin Moschetti, audiences will recognize the Palm Theatre, Emerson Park and Bishop Peak.
Screens with “In A Day’s Time” and “Breakfast on Catalina,” 7 p. m. Monday, Palm Theatre
‘The Shaken Tree’
Director Mary Garcia- Lemus and producer José Mejia Lemus
As this documentary reveals, there’s still a stigma surrounding family members with mental illness. It’s nicknamed the “No Casserole” illness, a disease that alienates friends and neighbors instead of bringing them together.
Cal Poly child psychology professor Mary Garcia-Lemus and her husband, architect José Mejia Lemus, interviewed 17 families throughout San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.
They also talked to experts including Janice Holmes, lead family advocate at Transitions Mental Health Association.
What they discovered, Garcia-Lemus said, is that many families with mentally ill members experience the same journey—starting with feelings of grief and helplessness and arriving at hope and acceptance.
“(The families) really wanted to get this message out,” she said.
Garcia-Lemus and her husband chronicled homelessness last year in their documentary “Suckerfish.”
Screens with “A Creative Life: Who Is Ed Harvey?” 7:30 p. m. Monday, Downtown Centre Cinemas
‘A Senseless Act’
Director, producer and writer David de Vos
Most filmmakers take months, even years, to craft a cinematic masterpiece. Cal Poly grad David de Vos had one week.
One of the top 100 finalists on Fox’s “On the Lot,” de Vos had just seven days to write a script, hire a cast, shoot and edit a short film around the theme “Something Important is Lost.”
“We didn’t get a lot of sleep that week,” he recalled with a laugh.
Inspired by a friend’s real-life experience, the filmmaker penned a script about a white man whose assumptions about race and class are challenged when his wallet is taken by a black man.
De Vos said he’s looking forward to screening “A Senseless Act” in the town where he met his wife and realized his love of filmmaking (he founded the Cal Poly Film Club).
“It’s a bit of a homecoming,” he said.
Screens with “Of Wind and Waves,” noon March 15; La Perla Del Mar, 205 Windward Ave., Pismo Beach
‘La Liberté del L’Intérieur’
Director, producer and writer Eric Albertson
As filmmaker Eric Albertson explains, “It’s a movie with one actor who has one line. That line has one word, and it’s in French.”
In “La Liberté del L’Intérieur,” a man trapped in a doorless, windowless cube is helped to freedom by a mysterious stranger. He’s inspired by his experience to help others, said Albertson, describing the short feature as “a visual depiction of a spiritual journey.”
Albertson, who studied mechanical engineering at Cal Poly, created “La Liberté” for TV’s “On the Lot.”
To make the five-minute film, he called on a group of Cal Poly grads he’s known since his days at the university.
“That’s one of the reasons I was so glad it was going to be showing in San Luis Obispo,” explained the graphic designer.
Screens with “Hollywood Singing & Dancing,” 2 p. m. March 15, Downtown Centre Cinemas
‘Chilés’
Director and writer Tyrone Huff
Tyrone Huff is no stranger to culture clashes.
When the black filmmaker was wooing his Latina wife, whose parents live in Paso Robles, he experienced the same language barrier and racial tension that his main character encounters in “Chilés.”
“Latino culture is about being macho. It’s a culture about being able to handle hard times, being able to handle chili peppers,” Huff explained.
Huff originally wrote a draft of “Chilés” while living in Paso Robles, recruiting in-laws and friends for a short video.
When he was accepted to Chapman University in Orange County, however, the script spent a couple years in a drawer.
Finally, classmates persuaded Huff to turn “Chilés” into his graduate thesis project. He filmed the 14-minute movie in Paso Robles.
Screens with “A Day’s Work” and “Gasoline,” 4:15 p. m. March 15, Palm Theatre
Reach Sarah Linn at 781-7907.
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