In the late 1990s, UNLV film professor Brett Levner worked in the documentary unit at MTV, at the tail end of alternative rock’s heyday. “I feel like there was still the grunge essence,” she recalls. “Or maybe I was finding it by watching movies like Singles and my favorite movie Reality Bites. I was still wearing my Doc Martens and flannels and attracted to that world.”
Levner channels that spirit of the ’90s in her new feature film Riot in Bloom, which combines nostalgia for the era with a showcase for its modern resurgence, via the story of a middle-aged woman reliving her youthful rebellion. On her 40th birthday, Rose (Reagan Pfifer) finds out that her husband has been cheating on her, a revelation that shakes up her entire life. She leaves her stultifying office job to work as a barista in a funky coffee shop, where she revives her grunge fashion sense and befriends her teenage trans co-worker Holly (Kristina Hernandez).
Levner crafted the story with screenwriter and fellow UNLV professor Roudi Boroumand, drawing from their shared experiences: “We had both gone through a divorce previously. We’re about the same age, and we were thinking we should write a script featuring a female in her 40s, who’s going through things that women that age go through.”
That personal artistic vision was then filtered through UNLV’s co-curricular project, in which production is incorporated into actual classes in the film department. Beginning in fall 2022, Levner spent three semesters working with students as her crew, from pre-production to post-production, in a process that ideally benefits both sides. “The students get the opportunity to be on a feature film set, to see how a film is being made and to have hands-on experience and to gain a credit,” Levner says. “It’s actually a great symbiotic relationship, because we get to make a film, and we get to use our resources at UNLV.”
In this way, Levner is following in the footsteps of her UNLV predecessors David Schmoeller and the late Francisco Menendez, both of whom made feature films utilizing the same model. “I do feel it’s important to keep the legacy going,” she says, “because to me, the hallmarks of our program are these co-curricular projects where we are a film family, where we’re collaborating together.”
That collaboration extends to Vegas as a whole, whether it’s Public Works serving as the coffee shop where Rose finds renewed purpose, or GC Records owner Shahab Zargari offering Levner music from his label in place of the actual ’90s bands that were beyond her budget. “That saved us, because we wouldn’t have been able to afford even to get someone to do covers,” Levner says. “He hand-selected female-fronted bands that played in that genre of ’90s grunge. It doesn’t even leave me wanting, because I feel like the bands are so wonderful.”
Levner has been at UNLV for 14 years now, and Riot in Bloom is the second feature film she’s made locally, following 2016’s The Track. Like many people who initially planned to stay in Vegas for a brief period, she’s become an integral part of the community, as both a professor and a filmmaker. “I’m really grateful to have been brought into this program, and I think we have something special here,” she says, and Riot in Bloom is a key part of that.
Riot in Bloom premieres at the Nevada Women’s Film Festival, June 20 at 6:45 p.m. at UNLV. Tickets are $12 at nwffest.com.
