The Jitensha Crew at the Venice Film Festival
Being on the Lido (a small resort island south of the city) was amazing. The festival couldn’t have been at a more beautiful time of the year. The town was taken over by the festival– statues of lions with wings dotted the landscape and large red facades were erected, which added to the glamor of the event. Before our screening, the cast and crews of each film in our program were ushered into the theater, where we met the applause of the audience. There were introductions in Italian, which sounded so formal (and cool), and our film looked good playing in its new DCP format.
Of the twenty short films in competition at the Venice Film Festival, I believe we had the largest crew in attendance. In all, seven students (Kyle, Skylar, Andrew, Daniel, Christian, Allan, and Stephanie), lead actor Yugo Saso, writer Yu Shibuya and producer Paul Nethercott made the trip to Italy along with my wife Leilani and I. The fact that seven students found a way to get there amazes me. It shows that they take ownership of the film and are proud of their work. Jitensha truly was a collaborative effort from the beginning of pre-production all the way to the premiere.
On our last night together as a team, we had dinner at a little place overlooking the sea called Caribe. Yugo gave a toast, saying that one year ago, he didn’t know any of us. Now, he’s seen us in Japan, the U.S. (for the premiere) and Italy. The students commented that they have seen Yugo on three continents. It is amazing that one year ago Jitensha did not exist, but now through our determination (and the will of God), it is a film—a piece of art—that stands on its own. And not just that, it has been the vehicle that has brought us together and sent us around the world. Wow.
The films that we screened with were, for the most part, dark in theme. There were films about murder, incest and adultery; there were also films that left us completely dumbfounded. I’m happy to say that Jitensha seemed to stand out like a sore thumb because it was so hopeful and lighthearted in nature. The festival programmers went as far as to call it a comedy, much to the dismay of the students. Because most of the other films were so tragic, it made sense that anything with a glimmer of hope would be called a comedy. It was truly an honor to be in the festival, especially after seeing the kinds of films the festival generally chooses to showcase.
I had the chance to speak with one of the pre-selection committee members named Stefano, who told me that there were in fact 1600 short film submissions—all of which he viewed. Upon his first screening of Jitensha, he immediately knew that this was a film that was going to be in the festival. We are still in awe that our little film could be part of something so big.
Next up we have the Heartland Film Festival. I will try to post from Indianapolis. Thanks for reading.
Tags: crew, Film Festivals, Jitensha, Screenings, Venice, Venice Film Festival
