Central Pa. native debuts first feature film, with help from a fellow State High graduate

After graduating from State College Area High School in 2001, Lara Jean Gallagher and Vincent Lin have gone on to make waves in the world of film. Recently their paths converged once again with the creation of “Clementine,” a feature film that debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year.

Gallagher directed the film, while her former classmate Lin, co-founder of Valiant Pictures, acted as associate producer.

How did the two get from here to there? For Gallagher, it was a revelation that kicked off her career. After graduating from State High, she attended Penn State but said she was unsure of what she wanted to do, starting out as a history major.

“I went on a run one morning and was standing in this field totally trashed with tailgating debris and it hit me that I’d rather create stories than memorize historical accounts of them,” she said. “And that was it. I graduated Penn State with film and video and English degrees; made a bunch of short films, commercials and music videos; and went on to get my MFA from Columbia University. Figuring out how to write and direct my own stories as a career and a creative outlet has been the driving force of my life up to this point.”

“Clementine” is Gallagher’s first feature film. One recent review from The Knockturnal sums up the film as “...not necessarily a love story, but rather a coming of age told from (two) different periods of growth in life. Its stunning scenery and solid performance enhance it, but its subtlety in communicating the pain of growing up set it apart. So often coming of age stories are handled in cliche packages, and ‘Clementine’ offers a relief from the genre’s tropes to provide a more complicated exploration that should leave audiences thinking.”

Gallagher said that she wanted to write “a contained, personal story that hinges on the performance of female characters,” inspired by her own relationships and exploring the themes of ambition and power between female characters.

For Lin, he was on board as soon as he heard about the film. His work with Valiant Pictures, one of the fastest-growing, minority-owned commercial production companies in New York City, set him up as a perfect partner.

“We had a lot of the infrastructure set up for production to happen,” he said.

He and Gallagher had worked together several times since their high school graduation and kept in touch through the years. Lin said that it’s interesting how they and a few others from their graduating class wound up in the film industry, but Gallagher says there are a few things about her State High experience that played into her current success.

“Moving to State High from DuBois was a really big juncture in my life. Being around more kids interested in art and music was a welcome change for me, though it was a really stressful transition. I ran cross country and track and and I think the work ethic, stamina and endurance I learned at a young age is something that is a big part of trying to create a sustainable career in independent film as well,” she said.

She also points out an anecdote from her time at State High, another critical moment in her path toward her current career. When she first transferred to the school, she was “for some reason” put into Advanced Molecular and Cellular Biology, where she found herself in over her head and struggled — until it came time for the final project.

“For the final project in the class, we were free to create our own presentation dealing with genetics. Desperate to figure out something to do that didn’t rely on the science I didn’t understand, I decided to plot an entire murder mystery-like narrative with genetic clues that the other kids had to uncover in order to figure out which character in my story had committed the crime. It was unlike anyone else’s project and was a total hit!

“More than the good grade that I desperately needed, I felt like my strengths and my interests were uncovered and really validated at a critical moment. I may not have been smart like the other kids in the class, but I had ideas and that was something,” she said.

Gallagher also has some words of wisdom for current students.

“At least one person, (and probably more like 50) is going to tell you that what you want to do is too hard, is best left to someone with more experience, more money, more whatever ... and they’re right ... which should make you mad and motivate you to figure out how to do it anyway. If it was easy, everyone would do it, because doing what inspires you is the best thing there is,” she said.

This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 9:45 AM.