TACOMA FILMMAKER COMMITTED TO THE IMAGE >>>

Since the implementation of audio recording for film eighty-odd years ago, the world has embraced talkies and rarely looked back. A contemporary silent may have trouble finding fans in this sound-saturated age, but that hasn't stopped a few intrepid locals from dabbling in an obsolete practice. And sometimes the experiment pays off - David Derickson's Mr. Radio for instance makes up for its dearth of dialogue with old-school charm. Tickling audiences at last year's Tacoma Film Festival, it now ventures north to take its place in the upcoming Seattle International Film Festival.

Ronald Lagman has similarly taken a purely visual approach with his dramatic short Committed. In it one married couple enjoys a romantic evening that takes an unexpected turn. (Fellow screenwriter Rick Walters, whom I profiled in Jan., plays the husband.)

With Committed, Lagman puts into practice concepts he learned while in film school. "For me, I wanted to challenge myself to tell the story visually, without dialogue, because that's what film is all about," he says.

Without the crutch of exposition and all the verbal cues we normally lean on, this filmmaker challenges us to drop our collective role as audience (the word's root based on listening) and become viewers - to sense and make sense of every frame through sight alone.

Lagman hopes to have his film finished by June 15 - The Grand Cinema's final deadline for Tacoma Film Fest submissions.