This past summer, Ojai Valley School alumna Charlie Coe had the walk of a lifetime.
Ms. Coe made her big step onto the red carpet in premiering her first full-length movie, Fior De Latte, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Her film centers on a playwright hooked on sniffing perfume to relive memories from an Italian vacation spiraling into obsession as his life falls apart.
Fior Di Latte will have its European premiere on Nov. 4 at the Belfast Film Festival. The movie will also be screened at the Stockholm Film Festival on November 6, 7 and 10.
While she is excited about what is to come for the film in the future, Ms. Coe said premiering her movie at Tribeca was one of the greatest things she has ever accomplished.
“We hope to find distribution for the movie so it can be widely seen,” she explained. “I’m grateful I was able to experience Tribeca, and it was truly such a special opportunity.”
Ms. Coe started at OVS in 8th grade in 2009 and graduated from the Upper Campus in 2014. OVS taught her what work truly was.
When Ms. Coe was feeling distracted in school, unable to take her mind off movies and music, she said Upper Campus Humanities teacher and College Counselor Fred Alvarez encouraged her to appreciate deep research into philosophy. Mr. Alvarez also taught her about applying herself.
This influenced her screenwriting today.
“You are nothing in life without curiosity, so I forever thank him for helping ingrain that,” Ms. Coe added.
Andy Street was one of Ms. Coe’s favorite teachers at the Lower Campus. She had asked Mr. Street prior to help her with the music for her film. Though she could write her own music, she needed Mr. Street’s intelligent mind.
She had written two original songs for the film, and she thought pairing with Mr. Street would be perfect because he could translate her demos into something dynamic.
Mr. Street saw that Ms. Coe was a quiet student, but determined and always interested in art.
He knew that she wanted a 1940/50s type of cartoon music and styles for a lot of cues for the film, which suited him because of his background in cartoons.
Tribeca had come much later than they had expected. Ms. Coe had emailed Mr. Street out of the blue after not being in contact for 15 years. Mr. Street was surprised, but he still remembered her.
They met at OVS one day in 2023 and had a good time discussing plans. Mr. Street ended up writing two songs for her, which ended up in the film.
Mr. Street ended up scoring the entire film, which was very exciting news to Ms. Coe and her team.
“She is very knowledgeable and absolutely sure, and very detailed about what she wants,” Mr. Street said.
They spent a lot of time on the phone and flying back and forth from California to New York City. Ms. Coe finally came to his studio, where they put the final details on things.
Looking to the future, the talented film writer said she is incredibly happy to be on such an amazing journey.
“That is filmmaking, though, and the essence of why I love doing it,” Ms. Coe said.”It’s capturing something or something about someone that compels you and having a souvenir for other people to see.”