By Annette Hinkle
Though the Hamptons International Film Festival offers films from around the world, it also recognizes the talents of local filmmakers as well. Being screened at this year's festival (which runs October 14 to 17) is “Saving Caroline” a 20-minute offering by Devon Leaver. Leaver, currently a freshman at Bates College in Maine, made the film last year as her Senior Project at the Ross School. The film won Guild Hall’s student filmmaking competition last spring, which secured its place in the HIFF lineup.
Leaver explains that “Saving Caroline” tells the story a 17 year old boy who purchases a journal at a yard sale only to discover it’s been written in by a girl with an great imagination.
“He’s drawn into her fantasy world until they blur,” says Leaver, an Amagansett resident who adds that she came up with the idea for the film while on a Ross School trip to India her junior year.
“Every single night we’d go up on a balcony overlooking a beautiful field and the sunset,” she says. “Everything was really golden and we just talked about things. These images kept popping into my head and I knew I wanted to try to make those into scenes.”
When Leaver came back home, she built a script around those scenes and spent most of her senior year producing, shooting and editing her film.
“The entire script I was building off what I imagined. It all worked out just as I imagined,” she says.
While Leaver isn’t sure if she’ll be able to break away from college long enough to come home to see her film screened at this year’s festival, she did attend a lot of screenings last year and was inspired by what she saw.
“It’s the best — to have the festival there and that many more options rather than the run of the mill stuff is great. There was a lot of quality.”
“I love film in all it’s genres,” she adds. “I love watching narrative films the most just to see how creative people can be in terms of trying to think up new storylines. I’m always looking at films to see different ways that people using lighting or sound mixing.”
“I’m always looking for new tricks.”
“Saving Caroline” will be screened Monday, October 17, 2011 at 5:15 p.m. at the UA East Hampton Theater 6. Admission is free.
