An Evening of Angelus at Notre Dame

A near-capacity crowd attended the Center’s second annual “An Evening of Angelus at Notre Dame” film screening, held in the state-of-the-art Browning Cinema in Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on Thursday evening, May 1, 2008. Each year “An Evening of Angelus at Notre Dame” features four of the winning filmmakers from the Angelus Awards Student Film Festival sponsored by Family Theater Productions in Hollywood. The Angelus Student Film Festival honors future filmmakers as they explore and create works that respect the dignity of the human person. The Angelus Awards was voted by Moviemaker magazine as the “Best Bet” among student film festivals for young filmmakers looking to make a career in Hollywood. This year the Angelus screening featured the following directors and films:

Sean Overbeeke – Christmas Wish List
Sean Overbeeke attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he majored in Communications with a concentration in media production. In 2006 Sean won a Student Academy Award for his short film Christmas Wish List, which he produced, wrote and directed. Since then, Sean has been producing television documentaries for Discovery Networks. He is currently the series producer for “Raising 17 Children” which premieres on TLC in August 2008. Sean lives in Los Angeles where he is also working with Sly Dog Films to produce his first feature length film about a 12-year-old North Carolina female stock car racer.

Lowell Frank and Destin Daniel Cretton – Deacon’s Mondays
Deacon’s Mondays was inspired by Lowell’s parttime job, and always growing passion, as a landscaper/ horticulture artist. Lowell Frank and Destin Daniel Cretton have been working together since meeting during their last semester at Point Loma Nazarene University in 2001. The duo has completed seven short films as well as a feature length documentary entitled, Drakmar: A Vassal’s Journey, which aired on HBO Family in June of 2007. Their films have played in festivals all over the world, garnering recognition and awards, including national finalist for the 2006 (Bartholomew’s Song) and 2007 (Deacon’s Mondays) Student Academy Awards. Deacon’s Mondays most recently won HBO Films Best Student Film Award at the 2007 Savannah Film Festival. It was shot on a $2500 budget and took 3 years to finish.

Shyam Balsé – Monsoon
Shyam has written and produced dozens of hours of programming for multiple outlets including Paramount Television and the Discovery Channel. He’s had the opportunity to work with Robert Zemeckis, and produced a feature mockumentary with Leslie Zemeckis. Shyam graduated with an MFA in Film Production at the University of Southern California. After graduating, he started a production company with producer/director Joseph Itaya called Tempered Entertainment. Shyam wrote and directed Monsoon as his thesis project. It has screened in over 35 film festivals worldwide and has won 16 awards.

Nicholas Ozeki – Mamitas
Nicholas is a graduate of Amherst College where he majored in English with an emphasis in film studies. He recently graduated from Chapman’s graduate film school. He has written and directed several films, one of which was nominated for Best Picture at Chapman’s annual Cecil Awards in 2006. In 2007 he was again nominated, this time for his thesis film Mamitas, and was awarded Best Picture and Best Direction for his work. He was also given the school’s coveted Einstein Award in 2007 for Excellence in Academics and Filmmaking. He is currently teaching cinematography at New York Film Academy located in Universal City on a part-time basis. A feature script for Mamitas is currently in the works.

The screening of the films was followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers, moderated by Angelus director, Monika Moreno.