Friday, Nov. 21, 2008

Fresh Films win gives Central senior a taste of Tinseltown

By SANDRA ENGELLAND

Central High School senior Selen Flores got the chance to walk the red carpet at a Hollywood premiere Nov. 8.

Flores was part of the Dallas-area crew of teen filmmakers to win the Fresh Films 2008 contest for their dramatic short feature, Saturday. The top prize earned the film and its crew a prime spot at the American Film Institute’s Youth Fest.

"It was just a surreal experience because you never expect that to happen to you," Flores said.

Flores and her fellow crew members were interviewed on the red carpet and listened to talks by Joe Nussbaum, director of the Amanda Bynes feature film Sydney White, Jon Gries, who played Uncle Rico in the cult favorite Napoleon Dynamite, and Six Feet Under actor James Cromwell.

They also attended premieres of other films featured at the associated AFI Fest. Flores said the independent movie The Brothers Bloom,starring Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo, made a big impact on her.

"This movie just changed my life," Flores said. "I want to stick with it and make awesome films like that one."

The day she arrived home, she began work on an original script, and she is looking toward college with the idea of pursuing a film-related major.

While in Southern California, Flores visited Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and saw celebrity handprints and sidewalk stars and toured Universal Studios.

"I’m inspired to keep working on my dream," she said.

Fresh Films, sponsored by Samsung Mobile, chooses teens from nine metropolitan areas to compete on teams to create films in three categories: drama, comedy and action. The teams have a week, basic filming equipment provided by sponsors and a small budget for completing their films.

Once entries are complete, the teens were to help market their films because the winner was determined by fan votes on the Fresh Films Web site. Flores featured a link on her My Space page, handed out information cards at Southlake Town Square and promoted the film on morning announcements at Central.

More than a million votes were cast in the contest, a record in the event’s five-year history, Fresh Films officials said.