By Gerry Boyle '78

Brent Katz '98

By the time Brent Katz '98 arrived at Colby he already had spent nearly 18 years as a professional actor, doing both commercials and films (Amityville 2: The Possession and Last Exit to Brooklyn, among others). At Colby, Katz decided to change his focus to the other side of the camera. "I really made a film school for myself in Colby," he said. "There was no set curriculum or anything, but there are opportunities up there that I just took advantage of."

A history major from New York City, Katz tapped the hundreds of films available at Miller Library and took a film course from Ken Eisen '73, a theater owner, movie critic and film distributor. Katz incorporated his own video into class projects whenever possible, took film courses in London during a semester abroad and churned out screenplays in his spare time. "During my senior year I was sending them out to different studios," Katz said. "I soon learned the futility of that task."

But Katz didn't give up. He just regrouped.

A filmmaker friend advised him to make a short film that would show studios his abilities. Katz selected a section of one of his screenplays and, with his best friend, Gregg Simon, tried to figure out how to turn his story into film. "At first we thought it was going to cost ten or twelve thousand dollars," he said. "We were kind of naïve at that point."

This was the fall of 1998. Katz and his partner decided to try to raise money by throwing holiday parties. A New Year's Eve party at a Manhattan club raised $10,000; the film was underway.

Titled "The Final Solution," the film is the story of a Holocaust survivor who, on a train years after World War II, happens upon a concentration camp guard who killed the survivor's wife. The survivor must decide whether to take revenge.

The film was shot over three days at a train museum in Connecticut, where Katz and friends (including Brendan Gilligan '96, Aaron Sigman '96, Nima Karamouz '98 and Amy Spratt '99) spent months restoring a dilapidated passenger car. When the $10,000 ran out, Katz borrowed from friends. "There was a point [during the filming] when it was raining so hard and it was just not letting up and everybody was saying, 'Let's pack it up and go home,'" Katz recalled. "I said, 'That's not an option. I have other people's money at stake.'"

The 15-minute film was made–with Katz in a lead role–and then taken on the film festival circuit. Stops included Flagstaff, Ariz., Houston and Waterville, where Eisen, an exacting critic, was impressed. "Brent's work is both technically assured and full of passion," he said.

At the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the film was noticed by producers whose credits include What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and Notting Hill. "They want us to do something younger, a romantic comedy, a Miramax kind of thing," Katz said.

He is. A second short film is in the works. He said he hopes to deliver it with a full-length screenplay. "It's kind of a stepping stone to get to make commercial films," Katz said. "Nobody's going to give you twenty million dollars if they don't know what you've done."