Kent resident’s film premieres at Hollywood festival

For the Reporter

Audiences may recognize longtime Kent resident Marissa Fujimoto’s work on national and cable TV, but few may realize she’s the talent behind the camera making it all happen.

Now, people can see her work when “The Lunchbox Brigade,” a film she recently produced, premieres at the HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF) during Washington Film Day on Sunday in Hollywood, Calif.

In addition to regular producer duties, Fujimoto secured key locations in Kent for the film, including a local home and Lake Fenwick Park. The film, written and directed by Kyle Thiele, won the 2015 HollyShorts screenplay competition. Fujimoto stepped in with other Northwest producers to produce the film.

“I loved the script the first time I read it,” Fujimoto said. “I could see places in Kent that would fit into the story perfectly, and they did. Both the home we used and Lake Fenwick Park add so much to the high production quality of the film.”

The story follows Teddy, who, when he discovers his brother-in-arms, Johnny, has gone to camp for the summer, decides a rescue is in order. Teddy gathers up the neighborhood squadron known as the Lunchbox Brigade and together they embark on an antic-filled plan to infiltrate enemy territory (aka summer camp) and free their friend. But Teddy makes the horrible discovery that Johnny actually wants to be there, leading him and the remaining members of the Lunchbox Brigade to conduct a funny and touching tribute to the loss of one of their own.

Fujimoto has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Sanford-Brown College, specializing in digital media. As the post-production coordinator at Screaming Flea Productions, she has worked directly with national networks such as A&E and Discovery. Her work is most notable on shows such as “Hoarders” and “Project Afterlife”.

She is a co-founder of Screaming Flea Creative Media, LLC and is actively building relationships in the greater Seattle area and producing videos for local businesses. She was awarded The Reel Grrls Outstanding Producer Award 2015.

The film festival begins with a Washington film block screening around noon at the Chinese Grauman Theatre in Hollywood. The block will feature works from local filmmakers and precedes a filmmaker Q&A and the Los Angeles premiere of Abundant Productions’ Story Playground, a Seattle offering that focuses on story development in a whole new way. The day ends with a Washington filmmaker-hosted reception.

“I can’t wait to see the film on the big screen. It’s a great story with a wonderful cast and crew. I hope audiences love it as much as we all loved creating it,” Fujimoto explained.

The HSFF Film Festival is an annual independent short film festival. Founded in 2005, the yearly festival programs feature an eclectic mixture of short films of various genres from around the world.

HSFF has featured more than 2,000 projects showcasing stars and filmmakers including Luke Wilson, Eli Roth, Sofia Loren, Bill Plympton, Anthony and Joe Russo, Issa Rae, and Felicia Day. The gathering features the major studios, networks, agencies and influential speakers. Previous participants included such companies as Fox, Lionsgate, Shorts HD, Electus, Machinima, Route 1 Films, Gersh, Cartoon Network, Film LA, Dailymotion, and Vuguru, to name a few.