Having a one minute long animated film you created for your final project in a Flash animation class entered in a famous film festival such as Cinequest is the last thing you’d expect. That is exactly what happened to 25-year-old De Anza student Alaric Holloway.

Holloway’s film, “Vol de l’Amour,” (Flight of Love) is the second film he’s ever created. The story was assigned by animation guru Dave Perry. He was given a week to create a one minute Flash film with a cast of no more than two or three characters. Holloway thought a love triangle would be the perfect scenario.

Vol de l’Amour is a goofy film with two males vying for the attention of the same woman, Holloway explains. He describes it as very “Popeye-esque.” Each character is composed of several individually drawn segments, connected together and animated like a puppet. This gave the flat look Holloway was going for; but he has opted out of using this technique again in order to create a more organic style.

“The intention of the film is to make you laugh,” Holloway said. “Nothing more, I think it’s pretty clear that the film does not aim for depth.”

Originally, Holloway was working as a software engineer with a Bachelor’s in computer science from UC Santa Cruz. Holloway says it feels great to be accepted into Cinequest.

“I never expected this film to get into any festivals, least of all something like Cinequest,” Holloway said. “It’s an affirmation that my decision to switch over to film was a good one. I certainly wasn’t going to win any awards as a software engineer.”

Holloway is very appreciative of his composer, Robinson Wood. He says Wood was largely responsible for helping him get the film out the door in time for the entry into festivals by writing the score overnight at a moment’s notice.

Cinequest begins on Feb. 23 and Holloway’s film will be shown on March 3 at Camera 3 at 9:30 p.m. in downtown San Jose, along with other student short films. His film was also screened on Feb. 27 as well.