2008 Woodie Awards
Instructor's film praised
Ben Carver
Issue date: 10/30/06 Section: Features
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Last month De Anza College Art Instructor Eugene Rodriguez, won first place at the Tribes New York Film Festival for his film, "Flood."
A short experimental film, in a non-linear format of three mini vignettes, Rodriguez describes "Flood" as, "My dreams and nightmares at the start of the Iraq war, about seeing people being killed there, as these dreams literally flooded my sleep."
That was his inspiration for this film, which he also directed, wrote, and co-produced.
Although "Flood" ran for only one showing at the Tribes film festival. Rodriguez says, "I'm trying to organize a screening next month for the film here at De Anza College."
Next month students may have the chance to see, think, and weigh their opinions about his award winning film.
Rodriguez is a southern California native, now living in San Francisco. He has a master's degree in multimedia from Mills College in Oakland. He has been teaching at De Anza for the nine years in the Arts program.
Rodriguez has been on and off of his sabbatical for the last three years. Traveling around Mexico City (Distrito Federale), studying the artwork, artifacts, and culture of the area.
De Anza's English professor, Rowina Tomameng, a fellow colleague and friend of Rodriguez, calls attention to his work as a visual artist saying, "Whether it's media or visual art, he is always raising critical issues on how communities are impacted by social-historical forces."
Rodriguez said, "I'd rather make art than ever sleep," about the severe dedication it takes to make a film come to life. As for his future in films, Rodriguez is beginning plans for his next film called "Double the Size of It" (Ananimo), a synopsis he says, is "a film of six vignettes of six un-famous people, who have changed the world for better or worse."
Inspired by his studies during his sabbatical around Mexico and the famous Mexican art works of the people, "where these people were only known for their work and nothing else."
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