Emmanuel Akanbi

The 7th annual Forest City Youth Film Festival (FCYFF) was held at the Wolf Performance Hall on Tuesday, showcasing talented storytelling by young filmmakers across Southwestern Ontario secondary schools. Nineteen short films and 5 feature film pitches were screened to an audience of over 120, including parents, filmmakers and industry professionals. For each of the five categories, films had the chance to win prize money, with $300 going to the winners and $200 to each runner up. FCYFF’s youth co-hosts and H.B. Beal Secondary school students Finn Brady and Kalista Langford led the crowd through each of the categories with…

The opening ceremonies of the 10th annual Forest City Film Festival (FCFF) were held Friday evening. The ceremony saw more than 200 attendees gather to celebrate film, music and the festival’s 10 year milestone. “Cinema knows no borders — and neither do we,” said festival director Dorothy Downs in a letter to festival-goers. “Each festival year is a celebration of how our stories connect to the world, and how the world connects to us.” The opening ceremony, held at the Wolf Performance Hall, celebrated London’s role as UNESCO City of Music. It presented a collection of 16 music videos, recognizing…

With the Forest City Film Festival returning for its tenth year this weekend, the city is brimming with creative talent. The festival is bringing back Project Pitch, a pitch competition where filmmakers can submit pitches for a chance to win support and funding. Project Pitch’s narrative feature film competition champions projects that hope to produce Canadian-made feature-length films, with at least 50 per cent of filming taking place right here in London. The winner of the narrative feature competition will win a $60,000 prize package to support their production. One pitch that I’m looking forward to learning more about is…

With the Forest City Film Festival returning for its tenth year this weekend, the city is brimming with creative talent. The festival is bringing back Project Pitch, a pitch competition where filmmakers can submit pitches for a chance to win support and funding. In the short film category, winners will receive $17,000 in production funding. This year, London-based director Brad Spencer and screenwriter Mary Ann Dixon will be pitching their short, Grape Expectations. In Grape Expectations we follow a recently terminated business executive, Claire, seeking to reinvent herself by purchasing a run-down winery. I spoke with the creative duo on…