Candler heads to Sundance with 'Hellion'

Classes at the University of Texas started this week, and Kat Candler is already planning to play hooky. It's OK, she's the teacher. And she has a good excuse for ducking out of her advanced narrative digital production class.

The UT instructor and filmmaker is making her first trip to the Sundance Film Festival, where she will debut her new short film, "Hellion." The movie, produced by former Austin Film Festival programmer Kelly Williams and starring local Jonny Mars, was one of 32 short films from the United States accepted from more than 4,000 submissions.

"Hellion" tells the story of young Petey, who struggles to coexist with his destructive brothers and earn the mercy of his father. The six-minute film was inspired by a family tale passed down from Candler's mother.

Writer-director Candler, who has won awards for her two narrative features "Cicadas" and "Jumping Off Bridges," says the crux of a strong screenplay is always the same — character arc.

"That's the most important storytelling aspect no matter what length you're doing — finding the heart of the character and how they're growing and evolving," Candler says.

A recurring theme in Candler's work is the experience of adolescence, something the filmmaker ascribes to her cinematic influences as a child of the '80s. She is currently working on the script for a feature film titled "Nikki is a Punk Rocker," the story of an all-girl teen punk band from Florida that gets a chance to travel to South by Southwest.

It is fitting subject material for the woman who speaks with such passion about teaching college students. Candler says her work at UT allows her to not only introduce her enthusiastic students to great movies and storytelling, but also offers her a chance to revisit her youth.

"It's kind of like you're reliving the act of learning something through their eyes," she says.

modam@statesman.com; 912-5986