Angelica Babiera | Arts Editor
Featured Image: Eric Bizzarri and Momo Daud opening the 2017 event to usher in a new generation of emerging filmmakers. | Angelic Babiera
Have you ever walked into a room and suddenly felt the aura change your mood and perspective? You feel inspired and creative because of the people in it? Well, that’s exactly what the Future of Film Showcase (FOFS) made audiences feel during their annual film festival.
It was a night filled with short films that made viewers laugh, shout in frustration, think, and feel sorrow. To top it all off, the films were all created by Canadian filmmakers.
John Mercado, a fourth-year marketing undergraduate at York, attended this year’s FOFS event on May 3rd at the Scotiabank Theatre. “It’s incredible that there are film festivals like this that give Canadian talent an opportunity to showcase their beautiful works,” says Mercado, who described the experience as “riveting, refreshing and exciting.”
FOFS is a not-for-profit media arts organization founded by fourth-year film students Eric Bizzarri and Shant Joshi. This year, Bizzarri was the Artistic Director and Joshi was the Event Manager.
“The objective is to organize an annual film festival ushering in the new generation of emerging filmmakers. The festival accepts films from filmmakers aged 30 or younger, and/or ones that attend a secondary or post-secondary institution in Canada,” says Bizzarri.
True to his word, the festival included short films created by filmmakers who are currently in post-secondary programs, are award-winning filmmakers, and are aged 30 or younger. There were also two York graduates part of this year’s festival, Kristina Mileska and Lina Evans.
“It’s amazing to be here. I know so many people here because some of us went to school together, and just from being in the same young filmmakers circle. FOFS helps to connect people with each other like that. You meet so many like-minded people, and it’s great that events like these are frequented and often fill up. It’s an astonishing feeling when people come to watch everyone’s work,” Mileska says.
Both of the York alumni’s works touched upon the theme of how our actions affect the people around us. Asteroid is a film by Mileska that follows a young girl’s fantasy adventure in space with her grandfather, and how this fantasy has helped her cope with his illness. It commemorated love and the young girl, by no means, affected anyone around her in a negative way. Mileska’s hard work proved valuable, as the audience was stunned and touched by the film’s message of how simple and powerful it is to love.
“My inspiration kind of stemmed from my own close relationship with my grandparents. They somewhat inspired my love of storytelling, so I wanted to make a film that expressed that, in a way. This short film was quite an ambitious project that I did in film school, requiring a huge amount of help from people, friends, and everyone else in my program. It was overall a group effort,” she says.
Evans’ short film, My Cradle and Tomb, focuses on the state of basic human rights in minority communities. Set in Villa Rica, Cauca, Colombia, the short film follows around Jota and his community’s struggle to access the one source of potable water in their area, because of the wealthy’s unjust hierarchical notions of access. Much like the posters and stickers on the water fountains around York that read “water is a human right,” Evans’ short film has the same message.
Without Bizzarri, Joshi, and their team, there would be no Future of Film Showcase; and without the FOFS supporting local talent, there would be fewer avenues for local emerging filmmakers to display their work. So, let’s all work together to continue to support Canadian talent.
