Campus remembers late graduate student

   Friends and professors remembered Katie Weinstein for eagerly helping friends, whether on film projects or just being a good listener, during a memorial service in the Folino Theater Wednesday morning.

   The second-year film graduate student was found dead in her Orange residence after suddenly becoming ill Jan. 7. About 100 people gathered to listen to speakers and watch a montage of photos ending with a clip from Weinstein's favorite movie, "The Princess Bride."

   "To say that she was invaluable is such an understatement, it could be considered a lie," said James Brandenberg, an alumnus of Chapman's graduate film program.

   Weinstein became close friends with Brandenberg while working as a line producer for his senior thesis film. He said Weinstein was the first person on his set at 6 a.m., worked for 12 hours to make sure the film shoot ran smoothly and then stayed up until midnight coordinating actors and extras for the next day.

   Brandenberg recalled one conversation with Weinstein when she was working on multiple films as an assistant director.

   "I said, ‘What is wrong with you? Why are you such a glutton for punishment?'" Brandenberg said. "And she said, ‘They need my help. It's the right thing to do and because I like to be the hero.'"

   After leaving her job at the University of Illinois to attend Chapman, Weinstein started working as an assistant to Alexandra Rose, professor of graduate film at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

   "No matter what was going on in her life, no matter how tired she was, she always had maintained this kindness and this calmness about her," Rose said.