Award-winning student film to be shown

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Oct. 16, 2018) An award-winning film that a California Lutheran University student helped produce will be shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23, on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Cal Lutheran’s TV and Cinema Club is presenting the free screening of “It’s Just a Game” in Preus-Brandt Forum. Executive producer, screenwriter and editor Wilder Troxell and producer Charlotte “Charlie” Biegalski, a communication major at Cal Lutheran, will answer questions afterward.

The action comedy won a bronze award from the International Independent Film Awards, a Best Picture Jury Award at the Oceanside International Film Festival and the Young Filmmaker Award at the Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival. It was a finalist in the Honolulu Film Awards and a winner at the LA Edge Film Awards. The movie was selected for the Borderlands Film Festival, Norman Film Fest, New Filmmakers New York and Sunscreen Film Festival.

Geared toward people of all ages, the film tells the story of children letting their imaginations run wild as they play a Nerf gun game at a birthday party. Ryan, a shy kid, is forced into the game by his friends. Eventually, Ryan and his team lose their winning grip on the game and realize that “fair” and “winning” are two very different things. The action-packed film has an original score. 

The 70-minute film was created over a year by a crew all under the age of 21, many of whom had attended the Center for the Performing and Fine Arts in Pennsylvania together. Biegalski and Wilder met in a film class there in 2010. They and others collaborated on several smaller projects before going to work on “It’s Just a Game.” 

“Everyone who worked on the project has been supportive of Wilder and his projects for years. He has a reputation in our area as extremely talented and creative. If he says he is going to do something, whether that be pulling off a crazy stunt or, in this case, making a feature film, he will do it,” Biegalski said. 

Biegalski handled all the legal, financial and promotional work for the film, and she has been heavily involved with applying to and representing the film on the festival circuit. She even helped with pre-production while studying abroad in Germany.

“That meant lots of late-night Skype calls,” Biegalski said. “I’m just honored that he wanted me to be such a big part of the project. I’m glad the work I did made the vision he had for this film come to life.”

Preus-Brandt Forum is located south of Olsen Road between Mountclef Boulevard and Campus Drive. Free parking is available in the lot at the corner of Olsen and Mountclef. For more information, email Biegalski at cbiegalski@callutheran.edu or call 805-493-3373.