Adam Orman '96 marks the premiere of his first feature film, Fifth Form.
In the fall 2008 issue of Haverford's alumni magazine, Adam Orman '96 wrote about the making of his first feature film Fifth Form, which he co-wrote and directed. The film, a dark comedy about a prank war that turns ethnically divisive in a boys' dorm at an elite prep school during the first Gulf War, had its premiere in San Francisco at the end of January. Orman, who lives in Austin and blogs about racism and filmmaking at www.FifthForm.com, recently offered this update on the film's public debut:
The gentleman who handles local films for the Sundance Cinemas said everyone always says that they're going to sell out but we were the first that he's actually seen. An audience of 178 people, many of them cast, crew and donors, watched Fifth Form come to life on the big screen for the first time. (One of them was on her way to see The Reader but thought our movie sounded better. Take that Academy!)
Personally, I had seen the film so many times in the previous three weeks during color correction and sound mixing, that it held few surprises except how it would play in a theatre. It had always looked good in the studio as a TV movie but was it cinematic?
I was impressed by the way our young actors held the screen, with the depth of the photographic vision and with the complexity of the sound landscape. I was excited that my relationship to the characters was different now that they were talking down to me; now that my actors were movie stars. I was nervous about the prospect of sitting in silence for 90 minutes but there was laughter. I was anxious that the actors would be embarrassed or the production designer would run up to report flaws. That wasn't the case or, at least, I didn't have to hear about it. I got great feedback especially from the young Israeli woman who had come to the theater intending to see the Reader. She thought it was the most provocative film she'd ever seen about Jewish-American identity. I couldn't have asked for a better surprise guest.
There are a number of film festivals coming up this summer. Please check out our group on Facebook or the website www.FifthForm.com to find out when Fifth Form will be screening near you.
