Saturday 10th May

It was a slow start to the day as the ÉCU staff, filmmakers and spectators arrived at Les 7 Parnassiens around 10 for this year’s first ÉCU filmmaking workshop hosted by Steph Rushton and singer-songwriter Chicago Mike Beck. They covered some bases behind rights processes and music licensing in independent filmmaking, which, to the interested engagement of some nominated filmmakers, was very well received.

Following the workshop, Saturday’s first screening session kicked off with Before the Dawn, a Ukrainian film by Alexander Denysenko. Nominated for Best Student Film, the film follows the love story between a man and a woman set in a 19^th century village. Svitlana Fomenko, councillor of the French embassy in charge of culture, attended the screening alongside her colleagues from the Ukrainian Embassy. She told me in an informal interview after the screening that Denysenko’s film is very meaningful to Ukraine’s cause for independence.

The film plays with traditional Ukrainian folklore and themes from mythical creatures such as Mavka, a young woman whose beauty holds dual symbolism of both enchantment and temptation. Cultural references like these are very significant to Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign nation and to have its own culture. Mrs. Fomenko pointed out that Denysenko’s film, though short in time and originally a music video, testifies to Ukraine’s right to an independent culture and freedom of expression.

“It’s very meaningful for us to keep our past, our culture and our identity. This short film is about our identity.”

Charmed by the four ladies from the Ukrainian Embassy, I headed into the theatre to watch Witness, nominated for non-European dramatic short. Aida Tebianian and her lead actress Fatemeh Masoudifar stunned our audience this morning with their film about the contradictions of Iran’s Islamic legal system, which the film shows, shadows out the voices of women in the processes of justice.

Following the screening of her film in this afternoon’s session, River Oaks, I caught up with Kalyani Persaud, who previously charmed us at ÉCU’s launch party back in March! She told me of the amazing feeling seeing her film screened to the audience today. She was thrilled to be selected after a professor of hers recommended she submit her film specifically to ÉCU. She didn’t expect how powerful the feeling of seeing her film on the big screen would be, and seeing it alongside the other nominated films, she stated, uplifted her own work.

“This festival is curating a very special understanding of what it means to be an independent filmmaker, and what it means to have the ambition of all those guys in Hollywood.”

For many independent filmmakers, most of the time, the experience of making a film is really confined to your own computer screen, and maybe that of other screens through the internet or other independent distribution platforms. To have it selected and screened in a cinema is not just unique for independent cinema, but also fulfilling the true purpose of the film in the first place. In her own words, “it truly was a life-changing moment.”

The day ended with the afterparty, which was held at The Backstage in Montrouge, a landmark establishment for live music. Between 21:00 all the past midnight, the bands Clint Alphin, Banker of Parkin’ Lot, Sarah Clanton, Teresa Suydam, SuperGlam, Svjata Vatra, and The Matt Backer Band rocked away into the night, as the staff and filmmakers gathered over wine, charcuterie, and cheese.