After viewing the work of three promising new filmmakers at the Telluride Film Festival this year, I have high hopes for the future of moviedom. Louis Pepe, Stephanie Morgenstern, and Dan Castle all rely on superb storytelling skills to create their fascinating films. Pepe co-directed Lost in La Mancha, a riveting chronicle of the problems faced by Terry Gilliam while attempting to film his version of Don Quixote. Castle helmed The Visitor, a poignant short movie about unexpected tragedy. And Morgenstern’s stunning Remembrance reminded me of classic films from the glory days of Hollywood.

"Even though Lost in La Mancha is a documentary, Keith (Fulton) and I wanted it to be a story," Pepe explains. "We treated it like fiction. It has main characters, and we tried to weave various incidents into a plot." The result? Pepe and Fulton have put together an amazing portrait of the creative spirit – with all its frustrations and challenges. Veteran filmmaker Terry Gilliam (Brazil, 12 Monkeys) makes a wonderful subject as he and his crew struggle with such overwhelming obstacles as torrential rains, airplane noise, and the illness of a key star. Sadly, some stories have unhappy endings. In this case, the windmills of La Mancha fought back, defeating the good guys. Still, all is not lost – Gilliam may regroup and try again.

Castle is another filmmaker who finds inspiration in life experiences with the potential to become good stories. "I follow Stephen King’s advice in ‘On Writing’ – it’s all about the situation," he declares. "If you start with an intriguing situation, the characters and plot take care of themselves." In The Visitor, Castle drew on his surfing background to flesh out an incident he witnessed involving a young man’s fatal accident. Castle’s provocative film leaves viewers with a heightened awareness of their own mortality.

"I tend to be motivated by a story not yet told," says Morgenstern, director/co-writer/co-star of Remembrance. Her 19-minute movie was inspired by the interaction of two true but little-known stories. Basing the main character on a real man whose memory was rigorously tested and found to be literally infinite, Morgenstern put him into a situation suggested by Camp X – a top secret intelligence facility in Canada used to train Canadian and Allied spies during World War II. Remembrance has already won the following awards: Best Canadian Short of 2002, Jutra Award for Best Short Film of 2002, and a Golden Gate Certificate of Merit. "We have funds now to make a full-length feature of this story," Morgenstern told me in an interview after the festival. She gives enthusiastic credit to her producer, Paula Fleck, for support as well as to her co-writer and co-star, hubbie Mark Ellis. "And my brother did the cinematography," she added proudly.

Why did these talented young people decide to become filmmakers?

Surprisingly, none of them thought they would end up in this profession. Pepe attended MIT to study about computers; Castle is a trained musician; and Morgenstern comes from an acting background (but she did take the Women in the Director’s Chair Master Class at Banff Centre for the Arts).

Pepe, who always had artistic hobbies and was an avid movie fan while growing up, enrolled in a film history class in college. "I got the bug, and there was no turning back," he recalled. Pepe and Fulton now operate their own production company called Low Key Pictures. Their first documentary, The Hamster Project, also deals with a Terry Gilliam film, 12 Monkeys. Although Pepe claims the most difficult part of filmmaking involves "keeping the faith" during each project, he obviously still has the bug. "The process is so enjoyable," he says. "It’s exciting, interesting, stimulating, and involving."

Music came first for Castle. He earned a degree in that subject from NYU. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a performing career, he helped produce trailers for movies. "I soon realized I knew what I was doing," he admits. Castle’s talents in music, painting, acting, and writing complement his filmmaking efforts. Still, he believes "getting everyone on the same track and making sure they’re going in the same direction" can sometimes be daunting. Happiest when everyone involved performs at higher levels than expected, Castle claims that’s what happened in The Visitor.

Raised in Montreal, Morgenstern was only 15 when she began her career as a professional actor in both French and English. She played Alison in Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter and the lead role of Juliet in Jeanne Crepeau’s Revoir Julie. Her ability to memorize music and phone numbers by their color is called "synesthesia," – which triggered her research into the rare sensory condition that endowed the main character in Remembrance with perfect memory. According to Morgenstern, the most important thing about her haunting film is its message. "Anyone who undertakes an action is responsible for it. And it’s the same for a nation. We must think before the action. History is identity."

Morgenstern finds it frustrating to act and direct at the same time. "Each job requires a certain state of mind," she explains. That’s probably why she doesn’t plan to co-star with her husband in the full-length version of Remembrance. Who will? "I don’t want to go there yet," she says. My suggestion: Cate Blanchett. It’s a great role – an attractive, enigmatic stranger who tries to entice the man with total recall into accepting a dangerous proposition.

Speaking of total recall, it’s not likely I’ll forget Lous Pepe, Dan Castle, or Stephanie Morgenstern. I predict bright filmmaking futures for these talented storytellers.

(Article also posted at http://www.muse-apprentice-guild.com/bettyjotucker/home.html)