A Centennial secondary grad will appear in CBC-TV's Short Film Face Off for the second time in four years.
Last week, Coquitlam native Alan Miller started to tape the reality competition to promote his work In Passing, a four-minute long flick he wrote and directed for his master's thesis last year at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.
The movie, which last October had its international premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival, has gained attention at the 18 film festivals it has been screened at this and last year.
And it has scooped four top prizes, including a Student Emmy.
On Monday, In Passing was showcased at Fine Cut: KCET's annual gala of student films across southern California.
In 2011, Miller made it to the Top 3 in the CBC Short Film Face Off with his flick, Conrad the Wise.
Speaking from Halifax last Friday, Miller said he applauds the public broadcaster for highlighting short films, a medium that only a select number of people have access to.
"It's a great opportunity to get it in front of a national audience," he said of Face Off.
Nine short films are in the running for this year's contest, with Miller's being the only entry from B.C. to make the cut.
In Passing centres on two lonely people who happen to be jumping off the same building in Vancouver - at the same time - but in two different spots.
As they descend, love strikes in mid air.
"It's the story about two people that meet briefly but hopefully you get a sense of something larger about their life," Miller said. "There might have been something missing and, in this last weird moment, they get an unexpected resolution. That speaks to the idea that our time is always limited."
Miller said he sometimes gets asked if he feels the narrative is depressing.
"I never thought so," he said. "I thought it was a happy ending."
"Obviously, there's something sad going on with both of these people but they get something beautiful at the end. It's about them falling in love. It's not about them falling."
"Once that story is complete, it doesn't matter what happens after that," he added.
To produce it, Miller and a cameraman used the Vancouver Lookout Tower to film the backdrop. Then, on a sound stage in Los Angeles, his crew suspended the two actors in harnesses to act in front of a green screen with fans blasting. The rest was built using computerized images.
Now, Miller said he plans to return to Vancouver "to put down some roots and keep making movies."
The first episode of CBC's Short Film Face Off is Sept. 13.
