{"id":826,"date":"2019-08-30T18:03:11","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T01:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/?p=826"},"modified":"2019-08-30T18:10:13","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T01:10:13","slug":"film-independent-future-filmmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/2019\/film-independent-future-filmmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Independent: Future Filmmakers by Gerry Orz, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 17"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Clara Siliezar, Lacey Brauer, Vivian Munoz, Caitlyn Phu, Chase Okimura, Riley Thomas Stewart; Images courtesy of Getty Images and Film Independent <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Recently\nI attended Film Independent’s Future Filmmaker’s Program where they screened\ntwelve excellent short films of all genres and styles made by filmmakers in\nmiddle school and high school. Film Independent’s event showcased the true\ncreativity and expression that exists in kids of all ages and proved most of\nall that knowing the technicality of filmmaking does not make an excellent film\n– a vision does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nmodern cinema, we push for VFX, complicated sets and high resolution. Sadly,\nfor youth filmmakers like me, and the ones premiered at Future Filmmakers, such\nextravagance exists merely as a pipe dream. Those cameras stray far outside any\nreasonable budget, as does any hope of professional Pixar animation or Marvel\nVFX. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clara Siliezar, Lacey Brauer, Vivian Munoz, Caitlyn Phu, Riley Thomas Stewart; Images courtesy of Getty Images and Film Independent <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In\na way, this makes films produced by children and teens all the more exciting.\nWe lack the discipline and rules that have become enlisted in the larger\noverarching film industry, and it shows beautifully. Artists all over have been\nanimating in the most incredibly unique mediums, with Old Man\nPlanet <\/em>directed by Jessee Quales a prime example where he combines\nstop motion and drawn animation that enticed me far more than many other recent\nanimated feature films. Both Cannibal Cat, <\/em>directed by Andrew\nMartin and The Princess and the P.D.,<\/em> directed by Lacey Brauer\ndemonstrate the pure storytelling ability of animation, where the rules of our\nworld fade away and we can create imaginative new ones for whomever we\nplease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nevent also visualized a common theme that may lead to becoming a defining theme\nin the next generation of cinema – identity. The massive majority of youth\nfilms shown in this screening dealt with identity in some form or another\nwith Durian,<\/em> directed by Caitlyn Phu, discussing cultural\nidentity in a very visual way where she tells the story of Clara Chu, an Asian\nteenager struggling to determine if she recognizes herself as Asian or\nAmerican. The T is not Silent<\/em> takes identity on in the LGBT\ncontext where director Clara Siliezar interviews transgender teenagers in San Diego about\ndiscovering their gender identity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Film Independent staff: Mar\u00eda Raquel Bozzi, Senior Director of Education, Sarah Berkovich, Film Education Manager and Josh Welsh President of Film Independent; Images courtesy of Getty Images and Film Independent <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, in all these short films, the filmmakers show that this generation dares to show things that no other generation had dared show. This is Not a PSA,<\/em> directed by Delana Lewis discusses African American culture;  Brujer\u00eda, <\/em> directed by Vivian Mu\u00f1oz discusses the taboo nature of receiving mental healthcare in Mexican culture. Many more demonstrate the bravery of this generation of filmmakers to go into the world and show the most unspoken aspects of our society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally,\nand most importantly, the next generation of filmmakers shows a willingness to\ncreate – no matter what limits they have. Many filmmakers at the event\ndiscussed the difficulties of working, either completely alone or with very\nsmall crews. They used small DSLR cameras or simple point and shoot\ncameras. Dyad,<\/em> directed by Riley Thomas Stewart shows this\nmost of all. The film takes place on a scorched desert world and Stewart filmed\nmost of the story in a real desert, in order to capture the decayed quiet world\nhe wished to create. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gerry O., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 17<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The\ncommitment from these 12 creators should be an inspiration to anyone interested\nin telling stories, as cinema does not require money, knowledge or experience.\nIt merely requires time and passion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I attended Film Independent’s Future Filmmaker’s Program where they screened twelve excellent short films of all genres and styles made by filmmakers in middle school and high school. Film Independent’s event showcased the true creativity and expression that exists in kids of all ages and proved most of all that knowing the technicality of filmmaking does not make an excellent film – a vision does<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[82,84,85,10,80,81,83],"class_list":["post-826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-critics-blog","tag-caitlyn-phu","tag-chase-okimura","tag-clara-siliezar","tag-film-independent","tag-gerry-orz","tag-lacey-brauer","tag-vivian-munoz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826\/revisions\/837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}