{"id":432002,"date":"2026-08-13T19:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/432002\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T19:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:18:12","slug":"surprisingly-engaging-youth-films-screened-at-kcat-film-fest-los-gatan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/432002\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprisingly engaging youth films screened at KCAT Film Fest | Los Gatan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"raising<\/a>SOLD-OUT – The campers screened their films to a packed\u2014and quite engaged\u2014house. (Drew Penner \/ Los Gatan)<\/p>\n

Gone was the potato motif<\/a> of years past. In were the colorful puppets, hat gags and alien lore.<\/p>\n

But what was the same\u2014at this year\u2019s edition of the KCAT Film Fest<\/a>, which caps nine weeks of summer camps where children learn silver screen techniques and produce a short\u2014were the creative scripts, familiar filming locations and performances that punch above their weight.<\/p>\n

The films had names like \u201cSpy School Musical,\u201d \u201cDisco Night Fever,\u201d \u201cUltimate Dramatic Island,\u201d and \u201cThe State of KCAT,\u201d hinting that you were about to be taken on a wild ride.<\/p>\n

Whether that was to the jungle, as in \u201cMississippi Bones and The Search for The Hose Thingy,\u201d or a mid-century film noir landscape with \u201cDouble Kidnappity,\u201d or the Old West via \u201cThe Good, The Bad, and The Brainwashed\u201d depended on what counselors and learners dreamed up during their particular week of imaginative productivity.<\/p>\n

\"inMOMENT TO SHINE \u2013 Campers enjoying their red carpet moment on Monday. (Drew Penner \/ Los Gatan)<\/p>\n

Accolades are deserved for the expert editing, stellar sound mixing and snappy (and often meta) dialog. While the story lines could be far-fetched\u2014and clearly the product of young brains\u2014the visuals and pacing were, in many cases, better than my experience trying to stay awake during the latest Star Wars theatrical release.<\/p>\n

The films elicited genuine laughter from the sold-out Los Gatos Theatre, which is owned by the Town and run by CineLux<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The actors didn\u2019t take themselves too seriously, and yet the performances were admirable.<\/p>\n

\"onCOUNSELOR SPEAKS \u2013 The annual KCAT Film Festival capped a summer of camps where young filmmakers produced shorts to be screened at the historic Los Gatos Theatre.
(Drew Penner \/ Los Gatan)<\/p>\n

These young filmmakers were commenting on their Silicon Valley environs, while trying on comedic stylings and dramatic approaches.<\/p>\n

As the Los Angeles movie-making business deals with one crisis after another, you can\u2019t help but think that these kids just might be some of the ones who ultimately help to save it\u2014one day.<\/p>\n

Because summer break is now over, and it\u2019s time to head back to school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOLD-OUT – The campers screened their films to a packed\u2014and quite engaged\u2014house. (Drew Penner \/ Los Gatan) Gone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[171625,6903,171626,171627,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-432002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-cinelux","tag-film-festival","tag-kcat","tag-kcat-film-fest","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432002","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=432002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}