The 4th Annual L-Dub Independent Film Festival is coming to Lake Worth on September 27, 28 and 29, and the youngest film maker in the festival – Stella Martinelli (eight years old) will debut her animated music video, “American Girl Movie/ Red.” The festival will include many different genres of film, related workshops and a closing ceremony on Sunday night, September 29th, all taking place at the Stonzek Studio Theatre (located directly next door to the Lake Worth Playhouse).
Most participants in the festival will include adult-age directors and producers plus a handful of high school students. Stella Martinelli will be representing a younger iPhone savvy generation, as the only 3rd grader whose short film was selected. As with all of the participating directors and producers, she will participate in a brief question and answer session after the screening of her video.
“Stella amazes me,” said her mother Krista Martinelli. “Recently our family was going through an emotionally rough time. We had just received the sad news of a death in the family. During that time, three out of four of us had bronchitis, and Stella was the only healthy one. Over a period of about a week, I noticed that Stella was taking a lot of photos of her American Girl dolls, but honestly I was quite consumed with other things and didn’t really know what she was up to.” Later, it was discovered that during this time Stella was taking hundreds of photos of her dolls and was on a mission to create a short film.
Film Director for the Lake Worth Playhouse Charlie Birnbaum says, “These days when most animation is computer generated, it’s most refreshing to see filmmakers use the time-consuming, more personal techniques that stem from almost 100 years of great animation work. Earlier this year we showed ‘Consuming Spirits’ a 2-hour animated feature with 250,000 hand drawn cells by artist Chris Sullivan – now we are excited to be able screen a new work by Stella Martinelli.”
“This 8-year-old filmmaker, the youngest entrant in four years of L-Dub film festivals, took her American Girl dolls and used the old method of stop-motion animation. This involves photographing a scene, making a slight change and photographing again and continuing in this vein. The resulting frames, when shown on a screen, clearly give the illusion of movement to the story telling. The epitome of this technique can be found in the classic Battle of the Skeleton army in Ray Harryhausen’s ‘Jason and the Argonauts.’”
“I made an American Girl Doll movie. It took 501 photos to make,” Stella wrote in an email to a few family members and friends. “I hope you like it.” She loaded the photos onto a computer and set them to a slideshow using a timer. All of this was done without any assistance from anyone. The only part of the whole process that Stella needed a little help with was putting the animated film to music. She wanted her “stop action” animation video to be accompanied by one of her favorite Taylor Swift songs.
“My friend and neighbor Katie (13-years-old) showed me how to do that part,” said Stella. And voila – that was the finishing step. Her first animated film was complete, and her approximately 4-minute music video was launched.
In the past month since the first film, Ms. Martinelli has completed five other short films, using either dolls or Playmobil® people. She also enjoys making music videos with her friends in the neighborhood, utilizing special effects and dancing.
Stella Martinelli goes to a public school in Lake Worth and is quite fond of her teachers. In her off time, she enjoys playing ukulele, participating in dance classes and being a Girl Scout. Evenings at home include time with younger brother Paul, and her parents Joe and Krista Martinelli.
The 4th Annual L-DUB Film Festival is located at the Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Avenue, Lake Worth, Florida. The three day event will feature the best new independent films including 12+ screenings, 9 workshops, 3 parties, an Awards Ceremony. Participants include 30+ local, national & international filmmakers. Their mission is to celebrate the art of filmmaking. They strive to provide industry collaboration opportunities and outlets for filmmakers to present their work and gain recognition from their peers, the public and industry professionals.
Tickets range in price from $9 to $30. Visit the Lake Worth Playhouse website at http://www.lakeworthplayhouse.org/LDUBFF.html or call the Lake Worth Playhouse box office to reserve your tickets at 561.586.6410.
With many new independent film screenings at different times throughout weekend, there are a lot of great new works to check out and take in. If you’re looking for Stella Martinelli’s original animated film, it will be shown at 2pm on Saturday, September 28th.
View Stella Martinelli’s film here: https://youtu.be/vvx4Al2eRNI?si=61V7qYOQcZSOW7OG
General Information
L-Dub Film Festival
Sept. 27, 28 & 29, 2013
Stonzek Studio Theater
Lake Worth Playhouse
713 Lake Ave
Lake Worth, FL 33460
561.586.6410
http://www.lakeworthplayhouse.org/LDUBFF.html
Press Release: Eight Year Old Stella Martinelli Chosen To Participate In The – L-Dub Film Festival
Date: 09.17.2013
Written By: Monica Kallas – SharpShooter Marketing Group
Photo By: Mary Joan Bown