Local Filmmaker Premiers ‘Upstage’ at Neighborhood Film Festival Another Hole in the Head 2024

original article https://richmondsunsetnews.com/2024/12/06/local-filmmaker-premiers-upstage-at-neighborhood-film-festival/

By Klyde Java

The latest short film from San Francisco State University student and Sunset District resident Sam Goldberg premiers at the Balboa Theatre as part of Another Hole In The Head Film Festival’s Strictly Local lineup on Dec. 7. Fellow students Lee Ivy Voisin and Julia Li helped produce the film in conjunction with the school’s professional cinematic society, Delta Kappa Alpha. 

The 10-minute dramedy follows college freshman Lillian – played by Aaliyah Gilliard – who is tasked with organizing a dysfunctional theater show. The film’s title is a double entendre, referring to the stage position and the act of upstaging someone, taking the attention away from someone and orienting it towards one’s self. 

Inspired by Goldberg’s own experience as a student theater manager in high school, he is familiar with the challenges the protagonist faces in the film. An incompetent teacher and pretentious kids were some of the annoyances Goldberg had to deal with.

“In high school, I had a theater teacher and he sucked,” he said. “I knew I wanted to base a character off of him. Every single character in [the film] is basically a caricature of a theater archetype,” 

Though the initial idea was conceived more than a year ago, writing the screenplay took a brief one to two weeks. The film was shot in the spring of 2024 on the campus soundstage, while post-production took place throughout the summer.

Despite the typical barriers such as budgetary restrictions and technical difficulties, the production schedule wrapped swiftly on time. 

Goldberg credits the crew for their talents, although this was the first film many of them have worked on.

The 21-year-old director was particularly satisfied with the work of co-editor Ava Austin and composer James Olson.

“It was a bunch of people’s first time doing their jobs in post and they crushed it,” Goldberg said.

When audiences leave the theater after seeing “Upstage,” Goldberg hopes that the short is a reminder that filmmaking can be fun for both viewer and creator. 

“I just want people to have fun with films,” he said. “Student films especially are losing that joy of making a film. You can make a film just for the sake of it being fun and I think I had to relearn that.”  

Another Hole in the Head Film Festival is screening at the Balboa and 4-Star theatres Dec. 1-25. For more information, visit https://holehead2024.eventive.org/welcome.