Photograph by George Sakkestad
Filmmaker Michael Andres of Saratoga will debut his first film, 'Kidschool,' at Cinequest San Jose Film Festival later this month.
Local filmmaker debuts at Cinequest
By Shari Kaplan
It's no surprise that Saratogan Michael Andres chose an education-related backdrop for the debut film of his production company, Black Dove Entertainment. In fact, it would have been surprising if he hadn't.
A graduate of Saratoga High School and UCLA, 30-year-old Andres is still of the age where he remembers--and enjoys talking about--his high school years. Perhaps that's because he's still in touch with them, being an advanced placement English teacher at Willow Glen High School. He also comes from a long family line of instructors in both the academic and performing arts fields.
"I think it's important for filmmakers to write about what they know. Otherwise, you sound pretentious," Andres says.
Knowing how many students today experience fear, isolation, academic difficulties and a need for independence, Andres wrote and produced Kidschool, a 35-minute film that asks the question, as he puts it: "How far would one young man go to be heard?"
The answer is at this year's Cinequest San Jose Film Festival, which will air Kidschool on Feb. 23 at 8:30 p.m. at the Camera 3 Cinema and Feb. 27 at 6:45 p.m. at Camera 1 Cinema--both located in downtown San Jose.
"The film brings up an important issue about the experiences of the working kids versus the hyper-academic kids," says Andres, whose protagonist, Adrian, is a bright but under-achieving student who must hold a job to help pay rent for a dingy home shared with an abusive father. Andres named the character after another Adrian: his own young son.
"I believe that anyone could be born into the circumstances in which the protagonist finds himself," Andres explains.
The plot thickens when little things going wrong in Adrian's home and school life snowball into larger and larger problems, culminating with acts of violence both by him and against him. The ending is purposely vague, leaving the door open for the prequel and sequel that Andres plans to work on as soon as he obtains more financial backing.
Joining Andres in his first filmmaking project were director Max Knies and editor/assistant director Seth Andrews--17- and 18-year-old students at the time, respectively. "I wanted to ensure what is so seldom a reality, a true collaboration between young persons and adults," Andres says.
Most of Kidschool was filmed locally. Viewers may recognize a portion of Highway 9 in the mountains above Saratoga; parts of Hull, Minnesota and Hicks avenues in Willow Glen; and the Willow Glen High School campus. One scene, which required snow and a forest, was shot in Longbarn, near Yosemite National Park. The soundtrack is a combination of Andres' own compositions and those by various local bands.
For more information on the company, call 408.803.DOVE or visit www.blackdoveentertainment.com on the Internet. Ticket information for Cinequest, which takes place Feb. 21-March 3, is available by calling 408.295.FEST, or visiting www.cinequest.org.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
