This year’s daylong Fourth of July celebration in Pacific Palisades will be captured in a documentary by local filmmaker Sarah Kelly. ’This one day is amazing,’ said Kelly, who grew up in the Alphabet Streets neighborhood. ‘There is something special about this little slice of Americanism that people can relate to.’ Kelly feels that a Palisades Fourth has all of the elements to make a good film, including nostalgia, patriotism, sports, drama, music, rock & roll and fireworks. ’I want to explore the character of a small town and its characters,’ said Kelly, who made a 2006 full-length feature, ‘The Lather Effect,’ about Palisades High School graduates. ’Pacific Palisades is unique, yet every-town U.S.A.,’ said Kelly, who plans to include the early-morning Will Rogers run, the afternoon parade and the evening fireworks show. After attending Marymount High School, Kelly majored in political science at UC Santa Cruz. ’Right before graduation I walked by a film studies classroom where producer Moctesuma Esparza was speaking, and it was kind of like magic, I just thought, ‘Hey wait a minute, that’s what I want to do!” That summer, Moctesuma gave Kelly an internship on the epic miniseries ‘Gettysburg,’ which he was producing. Afterwards, another Palisadian, Sara Spring, helped Kelly land an internship on a movie called ‘Killing Zoe,’ starring Eric Stoltz. Quentin Tarantino was the executive producer. ’My life changed forever with the two best mentors anyone could have,’ Kelly said. With Tarantino’s help, she made her directorial debut with the 1997 documentary ‘Full Tilt Boogie,’ about the filming of Robert Rodriguez’s ‘From Dusk to Dawn.’ Stolz starred in Kelly’s ‘The Lather Effect,’ and also served as a producer. Kelly is seeking help from local residents in making her July 4 documentary, which she envisions as a salute to a town she loves. Her husband is fellow Palisadian Steve Prough, who graduated from Palisades High in 1984. Her parents, Marea and Andy Kelly, have lived here for 40 years, and her brother, Dominic, is a music composer who wrote the score for his sister’s feature film. ’I’d like people to contact me about being in the film,’ Kelly said. ‘I’d like to balance some of the ‘old-school characters’ with some of our newer residents and youth.’ Kelly hopes that past parade grand marshals will contact her and be interviewed about their experience in Pacific Palisades and the parade. ‘That means YOU Chevy Chase and Martin Short!’ Kelly said. On July 4, Kelly’s crewmembers, wearing white and red ‘Palisades Documentary’ T-shirts, will be filming and will also solicit Fourth of July stories. Kelly is producing the film in conjunction with her creative partner Darren Ayres, assistant director/line producer Charity Ozarowski and directory of photography Peter Ozarowski. ’To reiterate, the main reason I want to do this documentary is simply that I am a Palisadian girl who loves this parade, this community, and this country, and I feel like this day offers a true slice of Americana and small-town magic,’ Kelly said. E-mail Kelly at paliparadedoc@gmail.com.
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