Table of Contents

Editor's Note

Cover Story

Taste Buds

Events Calendar

March 2008

by Carolyn Wright

© Copyright 2008 ColorsNW Magazine

Through her own Lens

Young filmmaker Jocelyn R.C. and the National Film Festival for Talented Youth

JOCELYN R.C. IS ONLY 19 YEARS OLD, but she’s relentless about pursuing her interests. The Redmond native started writing her first feature-length screenplay, “Bridey and the Joiners,” when she was 12. Since then, the Asian-American filmmaker and photographer has produced a body of work that includes more than a half-dozen short films for which she can claim writing or directing credits, or both. And today, Jocelyn is co-founder and co-director of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY).

Jocelyn says she did not do all this alone. She is self motivated and focused, but she credits the human element of social connectedness for nurturing her dreams and encouraging her from one accomplishment to the next.

Jocelyn, who doesn’t own any film equipment, understands the power of collaboration and has learned to be resourceful. All her films were made with equipment owned by supporters, industry associates or friends. Because of the cost, filmmaking is not accessible to her peers, Jocelyn says. Besides, it’s not an art form emphasized in most schools. For these reasons, increasing young peoples’ access to the filmmaking world is part of the goals of the NFFTY film festival. This year’s festival starts March 28 at the Seattle Center.

Jocelyn’s journey began as a childhood fascination. She has fond memories of movie marathon outings with her parents. Some weekends, they would take her to see two, sometimes even three movies. These trips planted a seed of curiosity in her. She wanted to discover exactly how films were made.

Jocelyn credits her mother for the drive to go after her dreams. At age 5, Jocelyn’s mother enrolled her in piano lessons and “this is where ‘art’ began,” Jocelyn says. She also was lucky to have numerous teachers who encouraged writing and emphasized the importance of being able to intelligently communicate one’s ideas.
During her last year at Bellevue’s Chinook Middle School, a video production class was offered for the first time and Jocelyn began her hands-on learning. In the following summers, she took advantage of her free time to build upon what she had learned in class. She and her friends had the opportunity, when unsupervised, to be more independent about the types of films they created.

After middle school she was able to continue what she had started. Bellevue High School had a respectable film curriculum and a production facility to boot, says Jocelyn, who was back home recently, enjoying her winter break from Chapman University. Despite her pre-collegiate experience, Jocelyn feels challenged by the curriculum at Chapman, where she is pursuing a bachelor of fine arts degree in film production. As first-year students, she and her peers are allowed to drool over the state-of-the-art filmmaking equipment; they aren’t yet allowed to use it. This way, her instructors force students to build their filmmaking foundation on the development of a good story instead of the mastery of technology.

Besides “writing, writing and writing,” Jocelyn advises those exploring a filmmaking career to, “look for companies or people that are close to the industry to team up with. Anyone interested in film needs to finds people that have equipment or have access to it. Be as resourceful as possible.”

Her tenacity in networking led her to meet Jesse Harris, fellow filmmaker and one of the co-directors of NFFTY. Jocelyn was in the audience for the début of “Living Life,” Harris’ theatrically released feature drama. “It was really inspiring to see someone close to my age accomplishing so much,” Jocelyn says.

She looked up his e-mail address and began a correspondence that initially garnered Jocelyn a mentor. Jocelyn and Harris then discovered that they had a shared interest in helping young filmmakers create films. It was out of this working relationship that NFFTY was born in 2007.

Jocelyn still makes room for other creative pursuits, including drawing, photography, writing and songwriting. Her artistic focus may change – she says she goes through phases, but none of her pursuits are less important than another. She doesn’t have favorites because she believes that all the art forms work together underneath the umbrella of filmmaking.

Despite her accomplishments, Jocelyn is humble and down to earth. Her goals are simple: “Honestly, I would want to be with really good people, have a lot of love in my life and be happy … my dream life wouldn’t necessarily be film – and I love film, but people are more important to me.”

For more about Jocelyn: www.jocelynrc.com 
 

National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) - March 28-30

Seattle Center
305 Harrison St.
Seattle, 98109
www.nffty.org

The National Film Festival for Talented Youth is the brainchild of co-founders and co-directors Jocelyn R.C., Jesse Harris and Kyle Seago. The festival provides a unique venue for showcasing films by talented young filmmakers (21 and under) from across the United States.

Attendees of the second annual festival in March face three days full of youth-made films, red carpet events, workshops and panel discussions.

NFFTY is committed to supporting young individuals to dream big, pursue their interests, hone their skills and develop their talent in filmmaking. Eventually, NFFTY and its parent organization, The Talented Youth, a nonprofit, hope to grow into an even larger national youth arts organization that can provide grants and year-round resources to all young artists.

For more information: www.nffty.org