Monday, January 25, 2010
Still image from Wish You Were Here, by Andrew Alexander
Story by Innika La Fontaine
The Ottawa filmmaking community is a small, closely knit scene with a core group that has been dominant for 30 to 40 years. Recognizing the need to inject fresh blood, film enthusiasts Nina Bains and Shawn Kazda created an innovative filmmaking competition where time is of the essence.
The second annual BoxcART Film Festival 72 Hour Challenge got underway Thursday, January 21 and concluded Sunday. The central idea: take the second-guessing out of the filmmaking process for spontaneous creations that are new, raw, edgy, and no more than eight minutes long.
Teams received a sealed envelop containing a set of criteria and were set loose to begin filming. They had 72 hours to create something sexy, stylish and savvy. A panel of judges will assess the films on creativity and innovation using a point-based system and award $250 to the winning team.
“Ottawa has enough bohemian art films,” Bains explained in the run-up to the competition. “We want Ottawa to be known for it’s sexy style.”
And people are catching on. Five filmmaking teams entered the first contest last year; this year that tally ballooned to 19 teams. Some 150 budding filmmakers trawled Ottawa’s streets over the 72-hour challenge.
After struggling last year to attract interest, Bains was pleasantly suprised by the surge of participants.
“I did not expect this many people,” Bains said. “But how do you say no?”
A factor in Bains' favour: anyone interested in filmmaking could participate, free of charge.
BoxcART is now part of the Ottawa International Film Festival (another project spearheaded by Bains and Kazda), offering budding filmmakers a bridge to bigger film festivals.
“People underestimate the level of talent that is here,” Bains says, and many participants would agree.
“Most of the interesting people who come to this city don’t stay here very long because there isn’t stuff like this,” says Tim McEowan, a part-time filmmaker and first-time participant in the challenge this year.
“This is a step, a motion,” added McEowan. “It will be interesting to see what comes out of this because some of the people who are in this are sharp.”
This year, submitted films had to include specific landmarks, props, and actions including a shawarma shop, a dumpster, and several jumping jacks. McEowan's film included a party girl ten years past her prime and a 24-hour shawarma shop frequented by transvestites and hookers.
“The most interesting part of this process is when you are actually doing the work,” McEowan says. “It’s not the prep-work, it’s not the after, it’s that part in the middle when you’re actually shooting—I’ve never been so engaged in anything. You’re completely focal.”
“Because there is no time for them to second guess themselves, their creativity gets tested,” Bains explained “These kinds of challenges, I find, bring out the crème de la crème.”
All BoxcART submissions were due at 6:45 p.m. on Sunday January 23. The winning film will be announced Wednesday, February 10.
