In the early 1990s, Staar was still using his birth name Paul-Anthony, and was attending both Art Center College of Design and Pasadena City College for classes in film, art, and design. While at PCC, Staar made a handful of short underground films on both Super-8 and 16mm under the instruction of teacher Michael Zingale(2nd unit camera, Taxi Driver, 1976), and put some nights together to screen these films at Troy Cafe, then a hub of the downtown arts scene located in Little Tokyo and owned by Bibbe Hansen(Warhol actress, writer, performance artist) and Sean Carillo(Asco art collective). In June of 1993, Staar put together a film collective called ‘Cinema Nouveau’ of like-minded filmmakers whose main goal it was to showcase underground, avant-garde, and experimental film. The collective had one screening at Troy Cafe before Staar moved to San Francisco to pursue film school in August of 1993. The following select photographs capture and account the various nights of the film screenings(1991-1993) as well as some candid shots of Staar shooting his first film in San Francisco, ‘Femme Fatale’ about drag personality D’arcy Drollinger, when he started attending film school at San Francisco State University in the fall of 1993. When Staar moved to San Francisco he officially became known as Apollo Staar.
Early films collection on DVD forthcoming.