The elderly man sits on a park bench, birds flying overhead as he looks at photos of a pair of young men, growing up together, attending special events such as birthday parties and graduation.
“It was a time when the future was in front of us … we were invincible. There was nothing that could stop us – except maybe ourselves,” he says, as if speaking to his friend, recalling him receiving a text while driving and then crashing his car.
“And we were right, because I watched you die right in front of me. As I stood there I realized that life was fragile. That we were never invincible, just naive.”
The animated, two-and-a-half-minute film is the creation of Surrey’s Eman Landau called A Memory Still.
The film took second prize in the distracted driving category in ICBC’s 180 Short Film Contest.
Winners were announced last Thursday (March 10) in Vancouver, where other local youth were also honoured.
“In making this animated short we realized that the decisions we make as individuals could not only hurt our own lives, but the lives of those around us,” said Landau, 24. “The immediacy of driving distracted makes it seem like a small risk, but can have consequences that people will regret and remember for a long time.”
The contest asked 19- to 25-year-olds in B.C. to create a short film that would make their friends “do a 180″ with their risky driving habits. More than 120 entries were received in the three film categories: speeding, impaired driving and distracted driving.
Surrey’s Justin Tambogon, 23, took second place in the speeding category for his film Even the Ones We Don’t Hurt, Will Hurt, featuring a poignant series of simple statements from people telling how their friends, parents, sister, spouses and teachers were killed in fatal accidents due to speeding.
“I learned a lot of facts when researching for the movie,” said Tambogon. “It really hit home for me when looking back on what happened to my aunt who died in a crash, and made me think about how people drive. Whether it was on the subject of speeding or impaired driving or even distractions, it taught me a lot doing this film.”
Zeeshan Dhanani, 20, also from Surrey, took sixth place in the speeding category for Slow it Down, as did Delta’s Brook Lotzkar in the impaired driving category for his piece, entitled The Formula.
Dhanani said it was after one of his friends was killed in a drinking and driving accident that he realized how serious an issue it is.
“It affects so many people, but for some reason it still occurs,” Dhanani says. “It is something that is easily preventable, especially stuff such as speeding and texting. I hope our videos can relay that message to others. I know I am super conscious about my phone now in the car. It goes into my pocket until I get out of the car.”
Films were judged on the basis of creativity/originality, acting/believability, production quality and relevant content.
“We’re amazed by how many talented filmmakers got behind the lens to help promote road safety, reach their peers in a meaningful way, and potentially help save lives,” said Jon Schubert, ICBC’s president and CEO. “Because of the incredible quality of the films, we’ll be featuring the winning entries in our youth-oriented road safety programs this year.”
The three top filmmakers in each category won the top prize packages worth $7,800 in filmmaking equipment and software.
To view the top films, visit http://www.180filmcontest.com/winners.asp
