The end of the school year often means the impending doom of exams and existential dread about post-graduation plans. For one UC Berkeley student, though, this time of year holds a different kind of significance: It\u2019s film festival season.<\/p>\n
Filmmaker and freshman Noam Rignault Clement\u2019s most recent short film, \u201cLittle Things,\u201d was selected for the San Francisco International Film Festival\u2019s Youth Works category \u2014 this marks the first time in the festival\u2019s history that a short film in the category has crossed over into the general shorts category. The Daily Californian sat down with Clement to discuss the festival and his filmmaking process.<\/p>\n
\u201cSFFILM has always been present through my journey in film,\u201d he said, explaining that, having grown up in the Bay Area, the festival was the natural choice for where to submit his work. \u201cI submitted it as like a \u2018why not?\u2019\u201d Clement explained. \u201cThis is the best thing that could possibly happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Clement, who has spent his life using creative expression to externally process internal struggles, this accomplishment is especially meaningful. \u201cI just made (the) movies I wanted to see and I wanted to be part of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As university students know, finding time for creative endeavors can be challenging. When asked how he manages to tackle both, Clement explained: \u201cIt\u2019s definitely hard, but I just have my priorities set. I want to do film in the future, so I\u2019m doing film now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clement was quick to praise both the Film & Media department and his broader UC Berkeley education as vital to his creative development. \u201cI\u2019ve found lots of help in a Global Studies class I took last semester,\u201d he noted, highlighting how learning about global history has shaped his production process: \u201c(it) kind of seeped into my film I\u2019m working on now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside his UC Berkeley education, Clement has found inspiration and influence in prominent contemporary directors. \u201c(Wes Anderson) has got this very direct way of saying things,\u201d he gushed. Clement also commended Taika Waititi and Jordan Peele for their immense creativity.<\/p>\n
More than anything, Clement cited the bonds he has with the people in his life as his greatest source of creative inspiration. He remembered spending much of middle and high school making films with his friends, and said they became a space where he could collaboratively work out his ideas. With \u201cLittle Things,\u201d Clement was faced with a project that he had to work through on his own. \u201cIt\u2019s strange, because I don\u2019t really have another person to bounce ideas off of,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of just everything in my own head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Clement was alone in the production process, he had a familiar face in front of the camera: his younger brother, Luca Rignault Clement, who portrays the short film\u2019s protagonist, Leftie. When it came to working with his own family, Clement found it easier to give feedback and get the best performance out of his star. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to give them notes in a way that you know won\u2019t hurt them and in a way that you know will work with them,\u201d Clement explained.<\/p>\n
Filming the short with his brother helped give \u201cLittle Things\u201d its uniquely therapeutic tone. Leftie\u2019s inner monologue gives a voice to complex feelings, be it the fear of growing up too quickly or dread for the inevitable end to the good things in life. Through the process of developing the film, Clement reflected on his childhood with the balanced, wise perspective of a young adult.<\/p>\n
In many ways, \u201cLittle Things\u201d urges audiences to find their own versions of serenity each day. The film\u2019s thesis \u2014 to \u201cenjoy the little things in life\u201d \u2014 is a call to action that Clement himself is still working on. When asked about what his own \u201clittle things in life\u201d were, he took a second to determine his answer. \u201cOf course I have some, but I just can\u2019t think of them,\u201d he said, agreeing that sometimes university life makes it easier to forget to find the \u201clittle things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clement exemplifies the importance of taking time to notice and appreciate the things you care about. After taking a beat, Clement described Bay Area sunsets and the smell of chimney smoke after it rains as his \u201clittle things.\u201d \u201cI could just freeze in place and lose myself in that,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like it brings me back to memories of my childhood.\u201d Ultimately, your \u201clittle things\u201d can be anything \u2014 the important part is remembering to look for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The end of the school year often means the impending doom of exams and existential dread about post-graduation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[123882,123883,123881,123864,101,103,93779,102,104,106,105,54740,123880,23221,149,123868,123879],"class_list":{"0":"post-289850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-film-studies","9":"tag-global-studies","10":"tag-jordan-peele","11":"tag-noam-rignault-clement","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","14":"tag-san-francisco-international-film-festival","15":"tag-san-francisco-news","16":"tag-sf","17":"tag-sf-headlines","18":"tag-sf-news","19":"tag-sffilm","20":"tag-taika-waititi","21":"tag-the-daily-californian","22":"tag-uc-berkeley","23":"tag-wes-anderson","24":"tag-youth-works"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}