CSUN Film Students’ Hard Work Shown

It’s easy to tell a Cal State Northridge film student from one at USC. The CSUN student is the one selling raffle tickets for trips to Las Vegas.

“I was desperate, and I was trying anything to raise money for my film,” said Aron Margolis, the producer and director of “Final Cadence,” a 30-minute film made at the CSUN film school. It is one of five films to be shown at the 1990 Student Film Showcase, marking the first time CSUN has sponsored a public showing of films made at the school. The screening will be Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Campus Theater.

Students at the well-known USC film school are issued the basic equipment and supplies for their 16-millimeter films, but CSUN students have to beg, borrow and rent equipment and raise funds to pay for supplies.

“It took me 2 1/2 years to make my film. I just finished it in October,” said Margolis, 26, who completed the rest of his studies in May, 1988. “I tried a little bit of everything to raise money. At one point I bought a very inexpensive weekend package to Vegas and then sold raffle tickets for it.

“I only took in about $200 profit. It wasn’t worth it.”

With a couple of grants from a CSUN foundation and in-kind services donated by several film companies, Margolis was able to finish his film, which is about a high school student who is getting unwelcome pressure to take over the family paint-mixing business.

Margolis said showings of the $23,000 film have gotten him offers of assistant director work, but he is trying to hold out until he can get his own project, either in Los Angeles or in Mexico City, where he grew up. “I’m out knocking on doors,” he said, “showing this film I made.”

Robyn Freedman, who co-wrote and co-produced the moody, 17-minute film “Nexa” at CSUN, admits that at times during her schooling she was jealous of students who could attend the well-equipped USC school. “But USC was really out of the question for me, just far too expensive,” she said.

She and a group of students pooled their resources to come up with the $8,000 needed to make “Nexa,” which was shot in black and white in the industrial section of downtown Los Angeles.

“When I look back on it, I’m glad I didn’t go to USC,” Freedman said. “Not all the students there get a chance to direct, like we do at CSUN. And I really believe that it’s not the school you go to, but what you put into it that counts.”

Freedman said she is working with her father, producer Jack Freedman, to develop projects they hope to soon put into production.

The other three films in Wednesday’s showcase are “Bohotz: His First Adventure,” Maria Demeter’s comedy about a recent graduate from clown college; “Deception,” a film noir-like thriller directed by Peter Levitt; and “Aquaman,” a satire on comic-book heroes written and directed by Jeff Klein and Tom Farr.

The first Cal State Northridge student film showcase will screen at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Campus Theater, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. Admission is free. For additional information, call 818-885-3192.