The Florida State University
Film School
is known as the premiere film school in the southeastern United States. Since its inception, films and documentaries
produced at the School have garnered awards and accolades throughout the
country and internationally.
Atlanta actor Rob Pralgo is featured in 'First Kill'
That doesn't guarantee selection into the Atlanta Film
Festival, though! With selection
criteria arguably higher than in recent years, FSU films face some stiff
competition for a spot in the AFF. This
year, two films have made the cut,
testaments to the level of talent within the School's hallowed sound stages:
State of Unrest: A Look into the
Life of a Young Sex Offender, a documentary by undergrads Ryland Jones
& Mark Bendeck, takes a look at the growing problem of young people being
placed on the sex offender registries.
The subject of this documentary had a consensual sexual relationship
with an underage girl when he was 20, and served 270 days behind bars. Despite the judge's leniency, the subject is
a registered sex offender for life.
The sex offender registry is meant to keep track of
offenders - especially sexual predators - who might perpetrate their crime on more
victims. But like the subject, many
young adults on the registry are not predators or violent offenders, but first
time offenders: Men who've reached the age of majority, but continued relations
with high school sweethearts who were still teens. As a result, offenders face lives where their
movements are monitored and restricted; finding meaningful work difficult;
having relationships with the opposite sex is near impossible; their families
disgraced; they face prejudice; and very possibly are targets of mental and
physical violence. All for nothing more
than puppy love.
A Florida
attorney and a State Senator discuss the problems with the registry guidelines
and needed reform, while the subject relates how his life and goals have been
impacted by being on the registry. The
documentary, because it is short, doesn't fully broach the complexities of the
issue; whether or not on purpose, it tends to bias towards the young first time
offenders. It's a subject where there's
no easy answer, and punishing all justly means damaging lives unjustly.
Also appearing is MFA thesis film First Kill. A hit man's
reluctance to do his job is captured on a hunter's camera, prompting him and
his partner to search the woods for the owner before the camera is recovered. The hit man eventually finds the owner: A
young kid. But he soon learns why and how
the kid spends his after school time alone in the woods, and what consequences
it means for him.
A mix of suspense, action and macabre, First Kill takes a look at the business and motives of killing and
the heart of the man holding the gun, begging the question: Can a man look
another in the eye and murder him, even when his life depends on it? Director Micah Ranum does a first rate job of
raising the film above the tell-tale signs of student film work and makes First Kill comparable to professional
episodic television.
State of Unrest
and First Kill are the first films to
screen at AFF since 2006, and make for a great comeback.
State of Unrest is
part of the Documentary Shorts I program, screening on Saturday, April 18 at
9:55 pm.
First Kill is part
of the Action and Suspense Shorts program, which screens on Sunday, April 19 at
3:00 pm, and Monday, April 20 at 1:45 pm.
Stephen Hart is a Clayton County Georgia librarian by day, and a
screenwriter and filmmaker night and weekends. He is a staff writer for
CinemATL.
