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Press Releases
 Ojai Film Society Screens, “Une Vie Merveilleuse,” A Short Film by Brooks Institute Film Student Ventura, Calif. – (November 11, 2009) – Writer and director Sean Broadbent is making a name for himself in the world of film and he has only just completed his first year at Brooks Institute. A recipient of the Ojai Film Society 2009 Mary Steenburgen Scholarship, Broadbent recently completed Une Vie Merveilleuse, a short film that will be screened this Sunday, November 15, at 4:30 p.m. at the Ojai Theatre as a bonus screening before the film, Adam. Une Vie Merveilleuse is an eight minute film that examines divorce through the eyes of a young child. Une Vie Merveilleuse is a film asking people to rethink giving up their marriages,” says Broadbent, “Divorce is an awful thing to have happen in a family. I feel like it's like a mini-war taking place in the home. War doesn't leave anyone happy. It just, supposedly, makes someone a winner.” The film stars Teresa Ornelas, as June, a little girl whose parents are on the brink of divorce. Broadbent shares, “The little girl's involvement at first is merely an observer, but she starts taking action. She asserts herself and tries to let her parents know how much this is hurting her.” On working with young talent, Broadbent stated, “Students working with young talent need to respect the kids as kids, but also as actors. You need to respect that the kid might have a different attention span than you (not the case with Teresa but with others), and that they need more breaks to just relax. Encouragement is, of course, big, but never let that take honesty out of the directing. A kid is going to know real fast if you're trying to be nice and they're gonna tune you out quick. I've made that mistake. You also have to have as much energy as the kid does. They're gonna bring a lot of game to the table. You have to be prepared to bring plenty for them to work on and to do,” he continues, “I have younger siblings so I have to thank them for being in all my pre-Brooks movies because they showed me how much kids can do.” Une Vie Merveilleuse was written and directed by Broadbent who worked with a crew of four others for filming in the US, but also travelled to Paris to shoot portions of the film with cinematographer, editor and fellow Brooks Institute student, David Branson. “The entire first day we spent taking a journey on foot seeing just how far we could get. That day, we got to simply look at everything and plan out the filming that would have to take place over the next three days. It was great getting to see the city that way. It means we had to go back to locations multiple times and think about coverage. How's a different way to shoot this that hasn't been shot before?” says Broadbent. He also shared some advice for fellow students who plan to travel for their films, “Do it through STA travel. They are a student/teacher travel agency that will get you deals on going overseas There is also a scholarship that they have that is only available to film students and is only applicable to travel made to Asia and Australia. Start brainstorming now and get an application in.” About Brooks Institute  |
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