Zack Fenech, Staff Writer
Featured image courtesy of Future of Film Showcase
The Future of Film Showcase is a film festival that promotes Canadian filmmakers and their work as a collective screening.
The grassroots organization aims to bring young Canadian filmmakers together.
Founded by York film students Eric Bizzarri and Shant Joshi in 2014, the two fountainheads started the not-for-profit showcase with a shared love and passion for cinematic production and filmmaking. While a relatively young organization, FOFS has been the driving force behind bringing their artistic vision to life.
“Over the past two years we’ve gotten many submissions, all of them ranging from horror to documentaries and romantic comedies,” says Bizzarri.
“It’s been really fun so far. I’ve loved the unexpected films, ones that have completely changed the game and stood out from our lineup. I’ve loved everything we’ve screened, but my favourites have been those that offered a different outlook on a subject or environment.”
The idea for the film showcase was born after realizing there was an unmet need for student and independent filmmakers, according to Bizzarri.
“I was in a room looking over audition footage with Shant for a film that our friend was directing. We’re looking over the footage, and I say ‘How cool would it be to show this film on the big screen?’ to which Shant replied, ‘Yeah, but we just have a 15 minute event to showcase one film?’ I realized that we needed more.”
The FOFS was simply an avenue for filmmakers to showcase their films to a larger audience while making their works more accessible. Now entering its third year, the co-founders said that their endeavours have been gaining more and more attention since its conception.
Joshi hopes the festival will energize a new age of Canadian cinema.
“Obviously, Canada as a land and as people are extremely diverse: from the Rocky Mountains to the Maritime seas, from the millennia-old First Nations people to newly arrived Syrian refugees,” says Joshi, “Canada is essentially undefinable. By that measure, we see that the sky has no limit for Canadian cinema.”
He explains that the film showcase aims to capture the Canadian experience.
“The Future of Film Showcase differentiates itself from other young Canadian film festivals with our programming criteria. Not only are we looking for entertaining films from young Canadians, we are demanding that our young filmmakers innovate the storytelling medium of film and show us what the future of our cinema will look like.”
To learn more about Future of Film Showcase, head online to fofs.ca. Submission deadlines for the festival end April 9.
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