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Photo courtesy of Linda Beltran

Matthew Sharifi mans the stage lights at the Covina Performing Arts Center

As the last scene of the movie comes to a close, and the lights slowly turn back on, students in the room discuss the quality of the filming, their likes and dislikes and those unexpected features and inside jokes found on videos and DVDs, called “easter eggs.”

From watching movies to filming videos, Diamond Bar High School’s Brahma Cinematics club provides students with a glimpse into the film industry.

Brahma Cinematics guides members through creating short movies to be submitted to film festivals in Southern California. The club also provides club members with cameras to make videos for the film festivals.

“It’s a good way to bring together all the film students because there is different film classes in different periods, but this is the chance for the different periods to come together,” Beltran said. “Even students that aren’t in the film classes are able to come in during lunch and talk with students that are in the film classes, talk with the film teacher and then talk with the officers who are heavily involved in film.”

Along with keeping members informed about film competition opportunities, Brahma Cinematics also runs the Doppelganger Film Festival.

The competition is opened to all DBHS students, who can enter their video creations into a variety of categories to be judged by a panel of previous film students and club adviser Mario Enriquez.

According to Beltran, the club also connects students to opportunities, which allows students to get a sense of the film profession and help out on the set of productions.

Club members selected by the club adviser are given the chance to take on internships provided by the Covina Center for the Performing Arts.

“We worked with ‘America’s Got Talent’ [and] the director from the show ‘Blackish.’ We’ve worked with big productions and we’ve gone and done internships for them,” Beltran said.

The internships take place weekly, every Friday and Saturday at the Covina Center, where some club members help out on set with video productions such as those organized by the New York Film Academy, a school that rents out the theater.

“What I value most about [Brahma Cinematics] is that it gives people the tools for what they need. We are getting them out there, we are giving them exposure and we are giving them tips because we’ve worked with professionals,” Beltran said.

“It really gives them insight about the film industry.”