Vincent Catalina grew up in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. His childhood was something out of a Mark Twain novel... he was homeschooled and spent his days roaming the mountains, not learning to read or write until seventh grade.
That early childhood exploration laid the groundwork for his first indie film, “Wild Boys,” filmed in and around his hometown of Springville.
After successfully winning a grant and gathering some film industry contacts, Catalina shot the film over the course of 10 days. It follows a girl on a journey through the Sierra Nevada, who encounters some wild boys along the way. Catalina is a trained actor who portrays one of the wild boys, and produced and wrote the film as well.
Listen to KVPR host Elizabeth Arakelian in conversation with Vincent Catalina on the player on this page, or read the transcript below.
ELIZABETH ARAKELIAN: The Central Valley seems like such a great place for filming and yet I wouldn't say that we necessarily see a lot of films set here, or even in the Sierra, Nevada. Was that kind of in your mind when you chose your location and decided to tell this story?
VINCENT CATALINA: It was, it definitely was because, like I said, I knew the forest above Springville very well and it was just like, I knew it was one of the more beautiful places I had seen. It’s pretty rural and it's pretty, you know, wild and there's not a lot of tourism up in that part of the forest. And so, that was a draw for me. It was like a lot of people haven't seen this area. But you're right a lot of the Central Valley I think has a lot to offer in terms of beautiful locations, character, and just like some awesome opportunities for filming
ARAKELIAN:You must have filmed before that historic flooding last year?
CATALINA: Oh, yeah. Yeah, we did. You can't get up there where we filmed right now. The road is still damaged from the flooding.
ARAKELIAN: Why don't you give listeners kind of an idea of what the film is about?
CATALINA: So, the film is about our main character Kate and she embarks on an adventure out in the forest that her dad sets her on and she comes across these two young men in loincloths and with spears and they're very goofy. They're very childlike. They form a close friendship with Kate and they help her on her adventure and they encounter some people on the way that try to stop them and try to throw them off, but it's a pretty fun film. It's, you know, family friendly. It's just a good time up in the mountains.
ARAKELIAN: So why that genre?
CATALINA: I had always been drawn to comedy. My favorite films growing up were, you know, “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls” and you know, things like that. So, I grew up homeschooled until about seventh grade and my mom had a very loose belief in the school system and just like how education worked. That childhood gave me the idea for this film because I had heard, you know, “tell a story you can tell,” that type of advice and so I was like, I love being funny and you know, I love comedy but I also love nature and like what if someone just came across these two men, goofy guys, living in the forest and it kind of evolved after that. It just felt right to then bring it to Springville where I grew up. Literally like where we shot was the forest I grew up running around in, fishing in, and camping in, so it was a pretty cool full circle from childhood.
ARAKELIAN: Let's touch on just logistically how did this work for you? You mentioned applying for a grant, having folks from LA come up… Did you have experience with a camera? How did you translate your acting skills into film production?
CATALINA: The director Morten Forland, he had been in the film industry for a while and so him bringing in his expertise in, really it wouldn't have gotten done the way it did without his help. But, it was a lot of learning as I went because I didn't really know production at the time and we had several people on set who did and so it was learning from them and trusting everybody to know what they were doing. And you know, that's big part of filmmaking is just trusting your co-workers to get the job done
ARAKELIAN: When people make indie films, what is the ultimate goal? Is the goal to grow in terms of getting more audience? Is it a creative expression? What really is your ultimate goal for yourself, and then also for your film going forward?
CATALINA: That's a really good question. I’d say that it's very layered as well because I think every filmmaker is a little different. But, I know for me personally it was about proving to myself that I can do this and then also, like I've always said, I'm not picturing making money off this movie, I'm not picturing getting famous off this movie, but if I can get more work because of my work on this movie — whether that's acting, producing, or writing — I'll be happy.
ARAKELIAN: That was filmmaker Vincent Catalina. You can see his film “Wild Boys” on YouTube and Tubi. Thanks, Vincent.
CATALINA: Thank you so much.
