The Crier sat down this week with Idyllwild Arts Academy (IAA) Film and Digital Media Chair Catalina Alcaraz-Guzman to discuss her recent Teacher of the Year award at the All-American Film Festival in New York City. The festival, now in its 10th year, is dedicated to high school film students and receives thousands of submissions from around the country.

Before Alcaraz-Guzman would even begin to talk about herself, she wanted to tell us about the Digital Media Film program at IAA, and the role the students themselves take in learning by doing.

CAG: First I want to invite the community to our upcoming gala (May 22, 2024.) The gala this year was different. Kids organized the whole thing, they did the music, students performed, we invited a few Hollywood industry guests. I gave them free-range; they collaborated with every department. Our film kids don’t have showcases throughout the year, like dance, music and visual arts. They create these amazing little films and didn’t have an opportunity to show them, so the gala became their moment to shine. It was quite simple before. Now we show the films the day before.

TC: What happens on gala day?

CAG: Red carpet, as close as possible to a Hollywood red carpet, nonalcoholic drinks, photographers, an announcer. We asked everybody to dress their best, asked everybody in the community to present an award; the academy president, did one, the vice president of Enrollment and Management opened the night, the chair of Dramatic Arts presented best actress … and on and on. It was a community event with the presence of Hollywood people.

The kids wrote the script, they did a lot of funny stuff. They recreated the “slap in the face” moment (from the 2022 Oscars). We don’t have all the technical light equipment for light shows; we borrowed this from the dramatic arts. The goal this year is to partner with a company, a sponsor, to do a live broadcast so the world can see it, parents around the world.

We did a showcase in town last May. We partnered with the Rustic Theatre. We gave the Help Center an award for community service; they let us use furniture, anything we need to create these worlds for the films. They are our free “prop house.” They always greet us with a smile.

TC: Tell our readers about your back story.

CAG: This job in Idyllwild is very far removed from my origins. It combines my two passions: film making and working with youth. I was born in Medellin, Columbia. I was a young activist at a very convoluted time.

TC: That sounds dangerous.

CAG: Yes. Through art we offset what was happening in the city. The arts saved me. I was busy organizing film festivals, youth journalism conventions, I did theater. We took over places that had been bombed. The Narcos bombed everything. We would take over public spaces to make them beautiful again with artistic interventions. I found film became my passion at a young age. I left my country to become a filmmaker. It took me a while; everybody has to pay their dues. But at some point, I was like my students; they also leave their countries, I have students from Ukraine, Korea, Turkey, China, from around the world. That connection is the reason why I won the award. I do everything within my power to give them the resources, technical and creative, to succeed as filmmakers.

TC: You’ve been in their shoes?

CAG: I truly believe in the power of young people. I see more of a person who is there to find their artistic voice, and I am there to guide that process very individually, rather than to impose one on them.

TC: Tell us about the Teacher of the Year award.

CAG: How did we earn this award? This is the biggest high school film festival in the world. They get thousands of submissions every year from around the world. For the last couple of years, we have had some of our films become official selections in their festival. And we have gotten some nominations, such as best of show, best scoring, best drama.

   This festival offers a traveling program that visits schools with a lecture on short films and film making. My purpose is to offer our students the best. I invited the festival director, Tom Oliva, to come to our school. When he came, I let the students give him the tour and talk to him about their experience, without us telling him what we are all about. He right away mentioned that he was blown away by the quality of the program and by the pride of the kids. They highlighted the improvements we have made in the last couple of years. They now have a post-production sound design room, and the Bruce Ryan Soundstage. They do Foley [sound effects], and record live music for the original scores. We collaborate with the music department. [The soundstage is also a place where films can be shot or screened.]

In general, he saw that we have made an effort so that they have all the tools that they need to make quality films. I want to emphasize that this guy has been around the world and seen many youth film programs, and this one he found unique, remarkable.

The kids wrote to the festival after his visit asking if they could nominate their teacher for Teacher of the Year. “We want her to be recognized.” I don’t know what the answer was. When we went to the festival, I had no idea.

We had five films as official selections this year; that’s huge. They were shown at the AMC Theaters in Times Square. Then we attended the gala, called the Teen Indy Awards, that takes place in Brooklyn, at the Kings Theatre. So gorgeous. [Kings Theatre is a lavish and ornate theater built in 1929 and recently renovated.] The opening award that night was Teacher of the Year. The speech began by the host and founder of the festival. The kids around were saying, “It’s you, it’s going to be you.” When they announced it, they were crying and screaming. That’s the true award, their happiness. I got dozens of messages from students, from alumni, from people I taught online. They said, “Finally someone else has seen what we saw,” someone who has supported them, taught rigor as a film maker, and believing in themselves in a way that allows them be artists and creative individuals.

TC: You mentioned the soundstage?

CAG: Our soundstage has become a favorite place for Hollywood people to spend time with students and share their knowledge. We have said the door is open, they hear me. When they come they are very impressed that kids are learning industry standards. We have had producers, cinematographers, script supervisors, assistant directors, casting managers. We have had representation from every department you see in film credits come and teach our kids. We also have secured a stellar group of faculty members. As chair I need to assemble the best team for our students.

Alcaraz-Guzman highlighted the members of that team that now includes Cinematographer Bruce Finn, Sound Designer James Arnold, Editor Daniel Brown, Soundstage Manager Oliver Young, Production Designer Tim Collins and Isaac Webb handles creative writing; “Film is storytelling” is one of Webb’s favorite lines.

She also invited me to see one of these meetings between students and industry professionals at the Bruce Ryan Soundstage. That afternoon, Producer Andrew Lazar was screening “Nyad,” a film based on the life of marathon swimmer Diana Nyad. (It will be streaming on Netflix this week.) The film begins with documentary footage of Nyad’s career up to her unsuccessful 1978 attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida, a 104-mile, 60-hour swim judged impossible by the experts. It then slips into a dramatic retelling of her four attempts to finish the job starting in 2011, after the age of 60. After the screening, Lazar answered the many technical questions the watery tale raised among the student filmmakers.

In closing, Alcaraz-Guzman put film and her job in context: “It is a window into the psyche of today’s youth, the films we make. When you see them as a whole, you can see what is the pulse of young people these days. People talk about war, self-harm, suicide, the heaviness of the world, the environment; but they also talk of hope. My dream and the reason why I do this … I used to work in the industry but I gave that up. Idyllwild is perfect for my daughter; she now attends IAA. My goal is that we really become the best youth film program in the world, that we are placed on the map. It’s an opportunity for people to know what we have here.”