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Two-day film school
sets up in Hawaii

DOV Simens is bringing his two-day film school to Hawaii. Simens' Hollywood Film Institute will unspool Jan. 29 and 30 at the Ala Moana Hotel, covering topics including producing and directing, feature film making, financing and distribution and maximizing revenues from theatrical, video, cable and foreign sales.

Though Simens is not quite a household name in Hawaii, a visitor to his Web site at www.hollywoodu.com might get the impression he is a household name in Hollywood, with online testimonials from Quentin Tarantino, Roger Corman, Will Smith and Queen Latifah.

Waipahu's Lex Clark, owner of L. Clark Productions LLC, attended Simens' class in San Francisco and felt it was important to bring the class to the islands. He is the local contact for registrations.

At $389, the two-day school, whether in person or in a DVD set ordered from Simen's Web site, is not for the faint of wallet. Details are available at www.lclarkproductions.com.

A two-day seminar is clearly not the same as a four-year degree one might earn from the University of Hawaii Academy for Creative Media. It offers college instruction on filmmaking, video-game production and other facets of the entertainment industry. However, not everybody is a college student and that degree would cost considerably more than $389.

Hawaii-based classes on filmmaking or otherwise breaking into the business have long been available through the University of Hawaii Outreach College or the Hawaii Filmmakers Initiative.

The Outreach College's Pacific New Media program lists its class calendar online at www.outreach.hawaii.edu/pnm.

Doug Olivares, lately working steadily on film and TV projects in the islands, will teach a class in February with Steve Szabo for $200.

"It runs Friday night and two whole days Saturday and Sunday and people will get to make a little film," said director Susan Horowitz.

Pacific New Media also offers a six-session class on low-budget feature filmmaking for $185, taught by Jon Moritsugu. "He covers all aspects of production, from preproduction to permits, cast and crew," Horowitz said. "I think the value is in what we're doing, but of course I'm very partial."

The Hawaii Filmmakers Initiative was established on Maui three years ago because, at the time, Hawaii was the only state without a school offering a film degree.

"When we started planning our HFI program with (University of Southern California) School of Cinema and TV, we looked at what would work best for Hawaii's aspiring filmmakers," said Georja Skinner, HFI executive director and former Maui County film commissioner.

"Our focus has been five-week programs in the summer here on Maui, but students come from throughout the state."