Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 25, 2007)
4 Clackamas Print Featur Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Former student’s ‘Passioni l Adam J. Manley I f The Clackamas Print Standing before the crowd assembledinPortland’sHoilywood Theatre, filmmaker and former Clackamas student Devin Graham glowed with excitement. This was his night - his film. After months of shooting, sev eral complete plot overhauls and enough frustration to kill a prom ising career, it was suddenly all worthwhile. “I realized,” Graham remarked later, “this is why I’m doing it: when you get out on the stage and you realize how many people support you and everybody who’s helped you get to that point.” Though he had experiment ed with movies before, Graham first realized his passion for film during a church mission trip to Jamaica. “I got really into photography there,” he said. “After my mis sion, I realized how much I loved it and wanted to pursue it as a career.” Allowing the idea to take root, Graham set out turning a bur geoning dream into reality. He recruited family and friends (and friends of friends) to help with a variety of different projects with which to hone his skills. Among other things, he com pleted a film about miniature peo ple that relied heavily on green screen, shot a promotional seg ment for the Speech Department (in which he was active), served as a cameraman on the self-defense film Just Yell Fire, and was even flown to North Carolina to shoot a project for the truck company Freightliner. It was during his time at Clackamas, amidst these other projects and his classes, that Graham’s crowning achievement to date really gained a life of its own. Passion', a movie shot to look like a documentary of fictional events. It was this movie, a tale about Oregon passing a law prohibit ing dancing, that premiered at the Hollywood Theatre on Dec. 29. “Everybody’s dream is to make a movie,” said Graham. “Everybody talks about how they’re going to do it, but nobody does.” “A lot of people look at me and say I can’t do it,” he continued, “that it’s too hard, or no one else makes it. But I want it more than anything else, and I’m willing to do what it takes to get it and to prove that you can really make it if you want it bad enough.” “He’s one of the most driv en people I know,” said Adam Young, who first met Graham when some of his friends told him to come along to a shoot. “When he starts a project, or anything for that matter, he puts his whole self into it” But even Graham’s determina tion took its fair share of knocks on the bumpy road to Passion. The plot was revised several times as the project expanded, and when Graham was faced with the deadline of his departure for Brigham Young University, doubt mounted. He recalled, “I kept wonder ing, ‘Is this even worth my time? Why am I doing this?’ Pursuing my goal as a filmmaker can be very discouraging at times. I often feel like I am trying so hard and. getting nowhere.” “However,” he added, “it’s all worth it when you get to show your movie on the big screen.” And Graham certainly isn’t one to settle for any screen smaller than enormous. “I don’t want to be an indepen dent filmmaker,” he said. “A lot of people say they want to be an independent filmmaker. I want the world to see my movies, and if I’m an independent filmmaker I can’t do that, so I’m not going to be happy until I make it.” After Passion premiered, Graham headed off to BYU in the hopes of getting into what he describes as an excellent film pro gram there - but that wasn’t the only reason he chose thatfoute. “I don’t want anything that would take away my morals or values,” he explained. “I knew that [BYU] would help me not lower my standards. And that’s some- thingthat’s really important to me.” While Graham has yet to be fully accepted into the Provo, Utah col lege’s film program, he hasn’t been sitting still. In addition to assorted activi ties in Provo, he has been planning | new projects. He’ll be returning to I Oregon for the summer, where he ] intends on shooting several new projects. And then there’s still Passion - treating December’s premiere] as what the film industry would call a prescreening, Graham has listened to the comments of his audience and intends to create a new cut of the film. “In my opinion, it’s going to be a completely different movie - but better,” he said, adding that there are still some things he needs to | re-shoot come the summer. “This is what I love doing, i more than anything in the world. And if I can make a living doing I what I love, then I’m going to do it.” “And nothing,” he said, “■ going to stop me.” Adam J. Manley Clackamas Print ABOVE LEFT: Graham dances outside the Hollywood Theatre in downtown Portland. ABOVE RIGHT: Graham signs autographs on copies of Passion after its premier. ASG presidency: meet I : the candidates I [ Katie Wilson Co-Editor-in-Chief They are the students’ voice, and the students get to elect them. Associated Student Government elections for the president and vice president posi tions begin today. Students may vote by going online to www. clackamas.edu or stopping by the ASG Office. Unlike last year, there is some competition this time around: There are two presidential candi dates and two candidates for the vice president position. The candidates for president are current Student Ambassador Felisha Borg and Incumbent ASG President Tim Lussier. Bethanie Adamson and Tracie Miller are both candidates for the vice presi- PG-131 PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED «g» Text INVISIBLE to 55444 for wallpapers and ringtones theinvisible-movie.com VIOLENCE, CRIMINALITY. SENSUALITY, AND LANGUAGE - ALL INVOLVING TEENS. Ie Ie I HOW DO YOU SOLVE A MURDER WHEN THE VICTIM IS YOU? SOME MATERIAL MAY BE INAPPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN UNDER 13 dent position. Both the presidential can H dates see service to students as the A role and goal of ASG. A However, Borg thinks the sH dent leaders could do a better job. “I definitely want to see more h change,” she said. “Not many peM ÏC pie know we exist.” She feels that ASG could w oik h more at making connections and .0 building trust with the student body. hi Borg has been a part of ASG! since Fall Term. Lussier has been with ASG for I01 two years. He worked as president [tie for one year and is running a sec ond time. “I’ve seen this^year what it really takes [to be ASG preB [ha dent],” said Lussier. “It’s such an let important role.” This last year, he took an active I rei role in the legislative sessions' lie down in Salem. I “That had such an impact’ r he said. Lussier -ees i the primary rede lor of the ASG presi dent to be that of ter a iiaison between k the students and kl the board of edu lie cation and the college’s adniK- II istration. Voting tins today through® p.m. on Friday® ©BUENA VISTA PICTURES DIS TR1BUTI0N and SPYGLASS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, LLC IN THEATRES APRIL 27 BORG
