The filmmakers’ Method

Jackson Bell

Winning isn’t everything for local filmmaker Armen Kevorkian. In

fact, it will take second seat when he screens his short film entry

“The Picnic” at this year’s weeklong Method Fest, which begins April

11 at the AMC Media Center 8 Theatres in Burbank.

“It’s not really about winning, but gaining exposure,” he said.

“Usually, only friends, family members and co-workers would see it,

but with a prestigious festival like this, we’ll have a lot more

people viewing the film.”

And he hopes any attention it receives will bring him more

opportunities to direct.

A Glendale resident who works on the special effects of the

television show “Star Trek: Enterprise,” Kevorkian wrote the

five-minute short with his co-worker, Christopher Petrus, and taped

it in two days using a digital camera. The project was his first and

it only cost him $1,000, he said.

The story is about a man who wakes up one morning and realizes he

must finally deal with something that happened in his past in order

to move on with his life.

Also exploring the theme of overcoming personal obstacles,

first-time writer and director Berenice Robinson’s 17-minute film,

“Living Alone,” focuses on a woman entrapped by the inability to

recognize her self-worth. She is then forced by a series of

unexpected events to discover herself.

Robinson said the story’s message is universal -- people cannot

make others happy unless they are truly content themselves.

“I didn’t want to make [the protagonist] depressed,” she said. “I

just wanted to show her stuck emotionally and artistically because of

her lack of confidence.”

A post-production manager in the feature animation department at

Disney Studios, the native Frenchwoman now resides in Burbank. She

spent $20,000 and used a crew of 20 people, including the musical

supervision of her husband, Lynwood, to complete the project last

year. It was shot on 35-millimeter film.

“I’m happy that I was able to finish it because a lot of

filmmakers often run out of money and get stuck,” Robinson said.

Often relying on the expertise of her co-workers for help, she

also said living in the epicenter of the entertainment industry has

its advantages.

“Working in Burbank was a big benefit because the city is used to

it,” Robinson said. “The city has made the whole thing nice and easy

for me.”

The fifth annual Method Fest, a film festival with an emphasis on

acting, has relocated to Burbank after four years in Pasadena. It

will screen almost 60 feature and short films from around the world.