Recently, having been invited to VIYFF as media, I went out on opening night to see some of the films being showcased. As I made my way over, I wondered what they meant by youth. Was this films made by young people younger than me? Were they starring young people like kids? Was it a film festival with movies meant for kids? A lot of questions swirled in my mind as I made my way to the entrance of Landmark cinemas in Surrey, and soon I found shortly after I entered. Setup took a while however with technical issues, but soon David C Jones showed up to MC. An excellent choice, I might add. After things cleared up tech-wise, David got excitedly enthusiastic in introducing the films and talking about how VIYFF is films made by young people and/or staring young people, or even featuring films by filmmakers who are technically just starting. After a while, things finally got on track, and we got to see some screeners.
The first was supposed to be Lemon Ice Cream which was made in Mexico, but technical problems prevented it from screening. The show moved on to Toe Pick from Crazy8s, and since I haven’t reviewed it, I can tell you how it’s about a young girl who dreams of being a skater but her crabby coach constantly squelches her ambitions with a tough class. It was really well made, and like a lot of films from Crazy8s, I enjoyed it a lot. Next on the list was Store Front Talent, where a young man paints and wants to become an accomplished artist, but he has his doubts. Very expressive and quite an interesting ending too. Things got darker with Stateless, a film taking place in Iran. A man who works at a shop selling rugs comes home to discover his eldest son went missing, after an unsuccesful search, the man goest to the morgue and discovers his son dead, but also struggles to provide the right kind of identification to walk out of the morgue. Probably the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen. Next comes the film, Are We Okay?. Some young audience members answered no, and to be honest, I have to agree with them on that. It’s been a lot for me lately, but that’s not the focus here. The focus is in Are We Okay, two best friends Izzy and Abby are hanging out. They plan to watch a movie but Abby has a new job and at the same time hanging out with different girls. This one was highly relatable, as I feel like I’m going through something similar with my little friend Phoenix. She was supposed to guest contribute on this article but her schedule wouldn’t allow it, and when I met her yesterday, she was a lot surlier than usual. I really don’t want to relate to teen girls too much like I am these days, what is it going to do to me? Well, after that came Happy Thanksgiving which was all about a family celebratingThanksgiving dinner when a death in the family unexpectedly happens. Interesting thing about this one, is how the director took the Bugsy Malone approach and had the whole cast be played by kids. Fascinating stuff, but seeing minors talk about certain subjects or flaunt themselves doesn’t always sit right with me. Next was Settle, a film about a young lady who goes to her father’s home way out in the countryside and they investigate a death. Ominous stuff and then getting more ominous was The Last Daisy, about a mother and her son enjoying life which was a bit too mushy-gushy for me. But it got worse when it revealed the mother had a drinking problem and was taken away by social workers after her employer contacted them. The boy grows up on his own and solves his problems. One of those films that teaches you not everything is super happy, something I manage to show a lot of people every day these days.
Opening night for VIYFF was an incredible starting night and there’s some more screeners going on right now. Buy some tickets today and check the schedule on the official website. I heard there was even a cinematography course recently and with all that’s going on, I can’t wait to see if next year’s will be longer and have more events.
