Former City College student Benjamin Goalabre’s short film is set premiere at the exclusive Santa Barbara International Film Festival this week.
The short film, “If You’re Underwater” will be screened alongside hundreds of other films over the course of the two-week festival.
“It’s about a conflict relationship between a dad who is a widower and his teenager daughter, he’s basically trying to communicate with her,” said Goalabre about his most recent short film. “It’s a feel-good movie.”
The Film Festival is a prominent event dedicated to discovering and showcasing various works in cinema.
“So far this is the only festival we submitted the film to,” said Goalabre. “We just finished it last week, we want to send it to other festivals eventually.”
Although Goalabre has only been directing for about five years, his achievements speak for themself.
“I have directed close to ten movies, I don’t keep count,” said Goalabre. “I decided when I was about nineteen to start directing.”
This will be Goalabre’s third movie accepted into the festival following his previous entries, “Paradise Cafe” and “The Knockout Game.” Total production of the film cost around $2,000, a small amount compared to other projects he has worked on, said Goalabre.
With around 1,300 to 1,500 film entries every year, Assistant Professor Curtis Bieber, chair of the film and television production department, explained the intense screening process received films must endure.
“The Santa Barbara Film Festival, like most, is competitive,” said Bieber. “Less than seven percent of the films entered actually make it in, and that’s across all categories”.
Bieber described the prominence of the film festival in the area acts as a fuel for SBCC students and their involvement with film.
“It definitely helps,” Bieber said. “I know for instance we’ve had groups of students actually work the red carpet, premieres, or focus nights on celebrities. They go and they report and they get credentials, which is really cool.”
Plans for Goalabre don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. When asked about his next steps for film, Goalabre said he is constantly busy and looking forward to the next project.
“I’m working on feature films now,” said Goalabre about his future. “Maybe this was my last short film, but we’ll see. I may be done with this one but there’s other projects; I’m never done”.
Students interested in Benjamin Goalabre’s work can check out his Facebook page as well as the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for more information on the film event.
Goalabre’s short film will be shown at 8:40 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, and at 11:20 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11, at Metro Theater 4.
