Robbin Rae McCulloch helps San Marino High School students in making movies, but a film of her own creation has been nominated for consideration at two film festivals this spring.
‘Oakland In Blue,’ which McCulloch describes as “partially autobiographical,” has been accepted by the Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Pasadena International Film Festival. McCulloch’s creation has been accepted in the category of Short Film – Drama and was recently screened by the Director’s Guild.
“I am excited,” she said recently in her San Marino High School classroom. “There were many, many of the ‘movers and shakers’ of the film industry at the Director’s Guild. That gave me an idea of what this industry is like.”
In the film, the main character named Kennedy – a recent college graduate – returns to Oakland and is reunited with his friends, most of whom never left the neighborhood.
“Kennedy’s goal is to be manager of his best friend, who is a rap artist,” McCulloch explains. “They are immediately faced with a dilemma: Be legit and sign with a label or stay on the street. The film looks at what happens when you leave your home and you gain perspective. Then you come back to where nobody has left and you try to expand the perspective of others.”
‘Oakland In Blue’ was McCulloch’s thesis film from her senior year at New York University’s Tisch School of Film in Singapore, where she received a Masters of Fine Arts in film and television in 2014.
“I began writing the film during my last year of school and it was fully completed in 2015,” she told The Tribune. “The film was inspired by an album of the same title by Oakland emcee Do D.A.T. That album really got me through the blues of being in Singapore, so far away from family and friends.”
McCulloch is in her second year at San Marino High School, where she teaches Digital Media Arts, Animation, and a class in Advanced Media, which she described as “a small group of 10, all of whom want to enter the film world.”
She also serves as an advisor to the sophomore class and Link Crew, an on-campus club that helps incoming freshmen adapt to the high school environment.
The trailer for McCulloch’s film can be viewed at vimeo.com/robbinrae/oibtrailer. A screening will be held at the Cinemark Baldwin Hills Cinemas 15 on Sun., Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Fri., Feb. 17. at 1:00 p.m. McCulloch will be available in the theater for a Q & A session after the screening on Feb. 12.
The Pasadena International Film Festival is held in March. The Pan-African Film Festival from Thurs., Feb. 9 through Mon., Feb. 20 at several Los Angeles venues.
“I am excited,” McCulloch said. “Coming from Oakland, we did not come to L.A. unless we were passing through on our way to Disneyland. I am happy to be in the arena and step into the world of black Hollywood.”
