Professional filmmakers are busy pouring over videos created by youth in preparation for a festival that celebrates young talent.
Professional filmmakers are busy pouring over videos created by youth in preparation for a festival that celebrates young talent.
Individuality, creativity and emotional impact are among the considerations local filmmakers are making as they choose three winners from the nine films submitted by adolescents aged 11 to 18.
The three to 10 minute videos captured on cell phones, cameras and other electronic devices will be screened and winners announced at a gala during Alberta Culture Days in the Okotoks Cinema Oct. 1 at 10:30 a.m. Some of the topics include body image, technology, historic documentaries and fictional narratives.
“There is a variety of topics, including quite a few that promote good messages,” said Shawna Koski, arts council member and director of the Zooom Youth Film Festival. “The purpose of film is to bring awareness to issues so it's amazing that at such an early level they are already getting the concept of that.”
The first place winner will receive $1,000 and a screening of the film during the Okotoks Film Festival in June 2017. The second place winner will receive $600 and the third place winner $400.
The Okotoks Arts Council has kept in contact with the young filmmakers since the competition was launched last spring, said Koski.
“We learned what they wanted to do with their films,” she said. “We saw them evolve over time.”
More than a dozen youth attended a filmmaking workshop in early July. It taught youth how to create their own storyboards, make film animation and set the stage for their videos.
“They were very excited about getting their films submitted,” Koski said.
After receiving only three submissions in the Zooom Film Festival in its first year in 2014, the Okotoks Arts Council got the word out this year by making presentations to art and performing art students in Okotoks Junior High School, Holy Trinity Academy and the Foothills Composite High School last spring.
Wes Beiko, who won the Zooom Film Festival in 2014 as a Grade 12 student at the Foothills Composite High School, hopped on board to help organize, promote and enhance the festival this year.
Beiko and Koski created a social media campaign consisting of three videos, promoted the festival at community events, presented in schools and advertised the competition on Facebook with great results.
“We got tons of interest and received quite a few phone calls,” Beiko said. “We had to turn down roughly 40 people because they were outside of the Foothills.”
Beiko said it was a big change from two years ago, where only three people submitted applications. The festival did not take place last year.
“There's more people who know about it where in the first year there was very few people who knew,” he said. “I got contacted a couple of weeks before the deadline. They knew I had worked on films and went to Skills Alberta.”
Having the opportunity to view this year's submissions, Beiko said he's pretty impressed with the competition.
“It's amazing to see how there are so many people out there who are into filmmaking in Okotoks who we otherwise wouldn't have known about,” he said. “For a lot of these people it's their first time making films. It's great that they have the opportunity to get their work out there and get it showcased.
“There was definitely a few that did stand out. You can just tell from a filmmaking perspective the ones who have a lot more passion and the ones that are really dedicated to it and they gave it their all.”
The public can view the films, talk with the filmmakers and attend the awards ceremony on Oct. 1 at 10:30 a.m. at a cost of $10 each.
Tickets can be purchased at the door. Cash and credit will be accepted.
For more details about the Zooom Film Festival go to zooom.ca
