After a decade of organizing the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival one of the original founders is moving on.
Festival co-founder Johnny Blakeborough has decided that this year will be his last as an organizer.
“It is something that I am super proud of and I want to leave while I am still very happy,” Blakeborough said.
The Vancouver Island Short Film Festival (VISFF) began in 2005 after Blakeborough and co-founder John Gardiner felt it would be important for the community to have a festival that celebrated short films.
“We both thought that there was an audience in our community that wanted to see this and we loved short films,” Blakeborough said. “We wanted … a place where these great films could be showcased.”
This year’s festival, which runs Friday (Feb. 6) and Saturday, features a number of local, national and international short films.
Among the films that will be screening is Habit, a short documentary created by Vancouver Island University student filmmaker Steff Gundling, who won the best student film award at last year’s festival.
Habit examines the little habits that humans have in their lives. It was originally created for a class that Gundling was taking at VIU.
“[The film is] trying to analyze the meaning behind why we are doing the things we are doing,” Gundling said.
Blakeborough said he is amazed at how much the festival has grown in the last decade and at the quality of work being submitted.
“The film quality of the local filmmakers in this community is getting better and better and it is keeping up with the international submissions,” he said.
Although Blakeborough is stepping down, he will be there to help oversee the transition and hopes the festival can grow in a new direction.
“I want new people to come in and take the festival and make it grow in ways that I maybe don’t have time or energy or skills to do,” he said. “I would love it if the festival became a tourist destination.”For more information about the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival, please visit www.visff.com.
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