Date: 01/14/2008

SJSU Student Film to be Featured at High-Profile Event Comparable to Sundance Film Festival

Contacts:

Barnaby Dallas, Spartan Film Studios, 408-924-4573
Paul Encinas, recent graduate/film director, 510-750-7626
Pat Harris, SJSU media relations, 408-924-1748

Watch related trailer.

SAN JOSE , Calif. -- A San José State University student film, "Glory Boy Days," will be shown at the 14th annual Slamdance Film Festival, an event with the same prestige, timing and location as the Sundance Film Festival, except Slamdance focuses on emerging artists with budgets under $1 million. Slamdance begins Thursday, January 17, in Park City , Utah . Recent San José State graduate Paul Encinas wrote and directed "Glory Boy Days." Fellow students served as cast and crew. SJSU's Spartan Film Studios produced the film, which was shot in San José and features iconic local businesses.

"This is a spectacular achievement," said Barnaby Dallas, Spartan Film Studios director of productions. "Nearly 1,900 directors submitted entries, including many with Hollywood connections, yet 'Glory Boy Days,' a student film, was among the 29 movies selected for the festival. This confirms what we knew from the start. Paul's coming-of-age flick for the Millennial Generation is simply outstanding."

Slamdance says "Glory Boy Days" is "a story about a group of young adults in the prime of their lives, in a time where being young makes you invincible, and being invincible makes you complacent." But it's about more than being young. It's about being young in San José , Calif. Big Al's Record Barn, Iguana's Taqueria and Connoisseur 533 all appear in the movie. Also, the cast reflects the region's ethnic diversity, much like Spartan Film Studios' "Drifting Elegant," about a young Arab-American man, and "All About Dad," about a Vietnamese-American father.

Encinas, 26, is a Los Angeles native who spent his childhood in Southern California and attended high school in Union City . The film was conceived and written while Encinas was a student in a screenwriting class at San José State . Soon thereafter, "Glory Boy Days" was produced as an SJSU class project.

"Glory Boy Days" will compete against eight other finalists in the narrative feature category at Slamdance. Encinas and much of the cast and crew will attend the week-long festival. Read more on Slamdance. Read more on "Glory Boy Days." Read more about filmmaking at SJSU in an industry newsletter, page 12 [PDF].

San José State -- Silicon Valley's largest institution of higher learning with 32,000 students and 4,000 employees -- is part of the California State University system. SJSU's 154-acre downtown campus anchors the nation's 10th largest city.