One story was about a werewolf at her window, covered in fire. Another told of a crowing bird that at night sounded evil and wicked, like it belonged to a witch.
These were uncommon stories for a second-grader to write, and they were a clear indication there was something uncommon about Cedar Rosenfield. She wrote, she drew, she danced and except for one fleeting first-grade moment when she refused to take the stage as the Mad Hatter, she embraced acting with all the fury of, well, a werewolf on fire.
"Cedar was just an incredibly talented child," said Merry Rosenfield, who raised Cedar with her husband, Ed. "We wanted her to do whatever she wanted to do, and what that happened to be was pursue a career in the arts."
Cedar was homeschooled for the most part and raised without television, but she and her brother David created their own comedic skits. Before she could write, Cedar would dictate stories to David.
Early on, doctors diagnosed her with a heart murmur, but it wasn't an overwhelming concern for someone with so much energy.
Cedar's boundless enthusiasm would lead to her taking ballet and tap lessons three times a week. By 15, she had graduated early from high school (as the valedictorian), wrote her first screenplay and acted in local theatrical productions near the Rosenfield home in Northern California.
Eventually, she would develop an interest in film acting and writing. When the Rosenfields moved to Clearwater in 1998, Cedar changed her last name to Bennett and began her acting career in earnest with Wild Heart Films, a local independent film company.
"She could do Shakespeare like it was normal," said Mandy Wildman, producer, director and Wild Heart co-owner. "It's almost like she had been there. She was strikingly mature for her age but still a teenager, still a young girl."
In four years with Wild Heart, Cedar would appear in five films, three features and two shorts. A screenplay she entered into the esteemed Matt Damon/Ben Affleck Project Greenlight contest finished in the top 150, out of 10,000 entries, Merry Rosenfield said.
Cedar was on her way. Nothing would slow her passion for acting, not even her ailing heart. Remember that murmur? Turns out it was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
The prognosis was grim. Doctors told her she could die suddenly but gave her permission to continue acting and dancing. Cedar carried on, speaking little of her condition and much about the importance of young people following their artistic dreams. With parents pushing their children toward lucrative positions and society littered with diversions, the arts are not always an easy pursuit for kids.
"It would drive her nuts when she saw young people doing drugs, being lazy, watching TV for hours and not doing what they wanted to do," Merry Rosenfield said. "She felt like young people should be pursuing their dreams and helping society."
Cedar, who died at the age of 20, chased her dreams to the very end. Two weeks before her death in October of 2001, she filmed an extremely physical scene for one of Wildman's movies in which she had to fight with a man.
The film was two weeks ahead of schedule.
"You could go crazy, you could kill yourself or you could continue living," Merry Rosenfield said. "Going on was the only real choice. We couldn't bow down to the grief. Cedar wouldn't have wanted that."
Now Ed and Merry Rosenfield are chasing the dream for Cedar. At this weekend's fourth annual Tambay Film Festival, which begins Friday at the Channelside Cinemas, the Cedar Bennett Foundation will present the inaugural Cedar Bennett Young Filmmakers Award.
Both Merry Rosenfield and Mandy Wildman say the entries are remarkable for a group of teens largely untrained in filmmaking. Like Cedar's life, the messages are positive and uplifting.
Merry described the process of reviewing the entries as therapeutic. She felt like Cedar was watching with her.
