Islander Student Film ‘El Oso Loco’ to Premiere at 2019 Rockport Film Festival
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – After hours of preparation, filming, and editing, acceptance into a film festival is an amazing accomplishment. But getting the news while surrounded by friends celebrating your birthday makes it even sweeter – at least that was the case for Matthew Austin Taylor, senior media production major at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
“My girlfriend was actually the one who had to announce the news to everyone because I couldn’t talk,” said Taylor, who completed the documentary last spring for his Intermediate Documentary course taught by John Darbonne, an adjunct instructor in the Media Production Department. “I mean, it’s my first film festival, so it gave me this crazy rush of emotions. It’s also really rewarding to know all my hard work paid off, and now I get to share it with others.”
Taylor’s film, “El Oso Loco,” follows the monster truck driving journey of Alex Bardin, a Rockport local and recent Texas A&M-Corpus Christi graduate. The film, which is named after the monster truck Bardin drives, will be featured in the 2019 Rockport Film Festival’s Local Love Shorts Program on Sunday, Nov. 3, from 12:30-2 p.m.
“The fact that Alex is a Rockport native makes showing the film in this specific festival even more special,” said Taylor, who is close friends with Bardin.
Taylor attended three of Bardin’s monster truck shows and recorded some sequences on campus for the documentary, which, when including editing time, took roughly 40 hours to complete. Bardin, who was in his senior year as a media production major at the Island University during the time of filming, also lent a helping hand.
“Being at A&M-Corpus Christi helped make me a better visual storyteller,” said Taylor. “Before coming here, I had very little organization in my filming and my editing was pretty rough, but my professors taught me elements to look for when filming and how improve my editing skills – making me the filmmaker I am today.”
Additional Information
Taylor’s film “El Oso Loco” and “The Cheech,” directed by former TAMU-CC professor Edward Tyndall in conjunction with the Art Museum of South Texas, will be featured in the 2019 Rockport Film Festival’s Local Love Shorts Program on Sunday, Nov. 3, from 12:30-2 p.m. at Aransas County Airport, 421 John D Wendell Road, Rockport. Admission to the screening is free.
