WATSONVILLE — For one of its screenings Saturday, the Watsonville Film Festival showed “Mele Murals,” a documentary that focuses on two street artists in Hawaii as they create graffiti art in their rural community.
To prepare themselves for the documentary, festival-goers had the opportunity to create art themselves.
In the hours leading up to the screening, four artists set up panels outside of the Henry J. Mello Center and invited the community to help them finish the small, mobile murals.
Paul De Worken, Emmanuel Garcia, Priscilla Martinez and Jaime Sanchez set up shop to create the panels. Once completed, they were brought together on stage after the screening of “Mele Murals” to recreate the Watsonville Film Festival’s logo, but with each artist’s own flair to it, De Worken said.
De Worken said the project was organized to show how the community can come together through art, which is the synopsis of “Mele Murals.”
“I’m super excited to be a part of this project and grateful they invited me,” he said.
Also before the screening, the Watsonville Film Festival Inspirational Filmmaker Award was presented to “Mele Murals” director Tadashi Nakamura, a 2008 graduate of UCSC Social Documentation MFA Program in film.
More than 35 films were screened over the four-day duration festival at the Henry J. Mello Center, Appleton Grill and Event Lounge, Romo Lawn and Digital NEST.
These included a world premiere, many Monterey Bay area premiere screenings, and a free educational program for youth at the Digital NEST.
New this year, the Watsonville Film Festival sponsored seven free master classes for youth at Digital NEST. Speakers included visiting and local filmmakers who covered topics such as animation, acting, screenwriting and more.
