Carson School has multiple entries in Omaha Film Festival

Ten Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film students and alumni will have work screened at the Omaha Film Festival in March.
Ten Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film students and alumni will have work screened at the Omaha Film Festival in March.

Carson School has multiple entries in Omaha Film Festival

calendar icon05 Mar 2015    

Lincoln, Neb.--Brent Scott Maze, a junior film and new media major from Falls City, Nebraska, has two films, “Ambulance” and “Infinite” selected to screen at the Omaha Film Festival in March.

He is among several Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film students and alumni with work in the festival, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Some of the other films with Carson School ties to be screened at this year’s festival include “Working Title” by Logan Gee, “Sidekick” by Dylan Adams, “Contact” by Alexander Jeffery, “Just Another Tuesday” by Derek Davidson, “Nobody” by Jordan Fountain, “Diner Off the Highway” by Drew Conley, "Damnit Mamet" by Michael Lang, "A Game on the Line" by Jake Hull and "Ellie" by Allison Eckert.

“Infinite” was directed by Maze and written by Nolan Anderson. The seven-minute film is about a young man finding his way to the roots of a mysterious recurring dream within a series of visits to his psychiatrist, who discovers much more than he bargained for.

Maze wrote the script for “Ambulance” last year in class, but wasn’t able to make the 15-minute film until last summer. He also directed it and produced it with Jessica Schrader.

“We didn’t really have time to make it during the school year or anything,” he said. “So a few of us got together and made it over the summer.”

Shot over one weekend mostly in his hometown of Falls City, “Ambulance” tells the story of a wealthy playboy. After being brutally beaten and left for dead outside a bar, he finds aid in a passerby with indecipherable motives.

“It’s what these two guys talk about—this stranger and the main character, and how the stranger slowly figures out throughout the conversation while waiting for the ambulance to arrive that this guy trying to keep him alive probably shouldn’t have,” he said. “It’s got some interesting twists and turns in it.”

Maze was able to collaborate with a number of people on the project, including Zipline Brewing in Lincoln, which donated empty bottles to stock the bar shelves; the band Hollywood Kills, which gave them a reduced price to license their music; and an artist in Texas, who created posters and other objects they needed.

“We just tried to find as many different people and as many different mediums as we could to work it out,” Maze said. “Having all those people’s support was so much better than just trying to do it all ourselves.”

Maze’s interest in film began in high school with a favorite math teacher.

“He always showed me these weird, crazy movies that had to do with math, but they were like art movies,” he said. “He had an appreciation for good cinema.”

His brother also introduced him to artistic films he saw in the Film Studies program at UNL.

“It just took off from there, and by my senior year, I kind of knew what I wanted to do,” Maze said.

He chose to study film and new media in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film.

“It’s small, but it maintains a role of prestigiousness,” Maze said. “Everyone is starting to know more about this school, and it’s getting more and more competitive to get in.”

He likes the experience he gets at UNL.

“Instead of going for four years and paying a bunch of money to be a grip on your thesis film, you get to direct and write and do bigger jobs on multiple films here,” Maze said. “We might not have all the money and the crazy sets and everything that other places have, but we do just as well here, if not have a more hands-on experience.”

He is looking forward to showing his films at the Omaha Film Festival.

“It will be really exciting to go to the festival and see so many people we have no idea who they are, but then to also see so many of our classmates there,” he said. “We will have a strong presence at the film festival, which will be nice.”

The festival runs March 10-15 at the Village Pointe Theatre in Omaha. For more information or for a schedule of screenings, visit omahafilmfestival.org/.