From Austin To Canada: The Virtual Film Fest Experience

If this was a normal year, then Austin filmmakers Richard Jones and Jason Neulander would probably be on a flight to Montreal for the premieres of their new movies at the Fantasia International Film Festival. But these are not normal times.

Fantasia is often seen as the first of the Fall's big genre events, an international gathering that leads into events like Austin's Fantastic Fest. Now it's one of the first major Fall festivals to go online only, and that's impacting the filmmakers whose work has been selected - including two from Austin.

Film festivals are the proving ground for short films, and often their natural habitat and one of the few places where they can break through the constant chatter of content. Austin-based filmmaker Richard Jones is hoping that his short, "Oh, Deer!" (which screens tonight as part of the Small Gauge Trauma package) is one of those films that will catch some eyes. It's inspired by a true story, about a friend of his who nearly hit a deer: Jones said, "That got my mind percolating about what would a nice guy and vegan like him do if he hit a deer and it was injured."

The short (which features an elaborate animatronic deer made by local FX artist Eric Zapata) was in post-production at the beginning of the year, and that's when Jones started applying for late summer and early fall festivals. He said, "The early stages of the pandemic I wasn’t worried because like most people I thought it would be something that would last through the spring maybe but hoped normal life would return in the summer." Of course, that turned out to be optimistic, and when the Spring fests started canceling he stopped submitting, because he had to reconsider what getting into a festival would achieve, beyond getting some laurels. "I talked some with my EP Kelly Williams and we agreed it was probably wisest to sit on the short and see how the landscaped changed before we tried to reengage with submitting. The expense of submitting made less sense with us for a short because one of my primary goals was to use the festivals that it would get into as opportunities to meet other potential collaborators for future projects. It’s harder to tell if someone is artistically compatible online or develop lasting relationships. I think that can be hard even when you are visiting festivals in person."

What made Fantasia different for him was not just that they accepted his film (although, he added, "It was validating to have a festival that I have heard so many great things about accept my film.") It's that they've gone to a lot of effort to fill the community gap that the lack of in-person festivals has left. "They have created an online room for filmmakers to talk and that has created opportunities to get to know people. The goal of that is to be like the social bar that everyone would go to after screenings."

Jones has already met a few filmmakers in that virtual space, and he'l been able to communicate with audiences through a virtual Q&A, which will be posted on YouTube after the screening. He said, "I hope people enjoy the short and want to talk about it and that down the road those conversations create new filmmaking opportunities."

Jason Neulander has already had festival exposure with his early shorts, so the festival grind was no news to him. He started shooting his debut feature, Fugitive Dreams, back in 2019 with an eye to 2020 festivals. "It's a weird situation," he said. "Everyone is saying the same thing, on my side and the programming side, that we wish it was a year that we could be in a cinema together. But one tries to make lemonade out of lemons, and Fantasia is doing an excellent job at making it a celebration of film in weird times."

His experience shows how long and unpredictable the filmmaking and festival experiences can be. Neulander started shooting back in 2019, with an eye to 2020 festivals. However, when he started submitting an incomplete cut, he just got rejection letters, so he decided to hold back until the film was complete. He explained, "It's so competitive to get into these things that if I'm not submitting the finished, polished product that people will see on the screen, there are other people who will, and that will stop my film from being selected." That polishing process was deliberately slow. "We'd do a test screening, sit on it for a month, then we'd go back having absorbed that experience."

Now it's receiving its world premiere at Fantasia tonight, and will make its U.S. debut in October at the Austin Film Festival. To allow those festivals to both claim some degree of uniqueness, Fantasia is geolocking its screenings to Canada only, which is something Neulander said he appreciates. "It still has a special, 'you have to be there' feel."

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Fugitive Dreams and "Oh, Deer!" debut tonight, Aug. 31, as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival. Details at www.fantasiafestival.com.