Eric Bizzarri from the Future of Film Showcase

In this interview we sit down at StartWell's downtown Toronto broadcast studio to hear from the CEO and co-founder of the Future of Film Showcase - a unique not-for-profit arts organisation presenting short films from Canadian Filmmakers aged 40 and younger. Eric tells us about how the Showcase got going as a grassroots solution to getting shorts on the big screen and how it has garnered support from not only audiences and presenting partners but filmmakers themselves - some of them as young as in their pre-teens. [expand title="Podcast Transcript"] Qasim Virjee 0:29 Welcome back to another installment of the start. Well, podcast, I think we're up to number 42, or something like that. You lose track at my age of numbers, or something. This time around. I'm in studio with the one and only founder, founder, co founder, co founder, co Eric Bizzarri 0:50 founder CEO. Qasim Virjee 0:51 There you go CEO. So that's why I knew he was of high importance to the organization. Eric from the future of Film Showcase FoFs Eric Bizzarri 1:02 FoFs. That acronym hasn't been around for a long time, by the way. Like that was only I think that started. Like I was in my kitchen once, like years ago. Yeah. And we were like talking about and my brother just like, randomly, he's like, so it's like Fosse. It's like, let me call it that. I'm like, That's stupid. Why would you say? No, it's visual Film Showcase. Why would you say false? And then like, somebody else said in a meeting, like literally a few days later, and I was like, Do you think that's cool? Like, yeah, I think it's cool. I'm like, I think maybe we should do that. Qasim Virjee 1:34 So it's stuck. Eric Bizzarri 1:36 FoFs foster stuck. But my brother's listening to this. He's, you definitely take credit. They're usually it's definitely yours. But I like it. Yeah. I like it because of me on. Qasim Virjee 1:47 Yeah. It's a pleasure, man. Yeah, it's a pleasure. It's funny, because I guess we'll bring our audience up to speed a little bit on how we met, and what FoFs is all about this year, and stuff like that. But yeah, color the picture a little bit about kind of like the history. Let's just actually let's start with that. Let's start with what is the history of FoFs? How did you co founded who are your co founders? What was the like, intention to get this thing going? Eric Bizzarri 2:12 For? Sure. Yeah, I it was, I mean, it's a very, it's a very interesting origin story. It's like a friend and I, his name is Sean Joshi. He is now the president of fake pictures that runs out of Los Angeles. They celebrate. They celebrate queer content, and their their slogan is to decolonize Hollywood. And so that's what he's doing now. But him and I were in New York, York University Film Production program for about four years. And in our first year, we're sitting in his dorm room watching audition tapes for the very first film that he produced. And so we're watching these tapes, and I just go like, what are where? Where are we showing this film? When it's when it's finished? He's like, Oh, we'll probably post it to YouTube or Vimeo. And no offense to anybody who does that. That's great. It's your publishing your film. Yeah. This, Qasim Virjee 3:06 this will be on YouTube. Eric Bizzarri 3:08 Great. Yeah. No, and that's, and that's completely fine. Qasim Virjee 3:11 I'm not gonna win awards for this interview, unless you bring the fire my friends. Eric Bizzarri 3:16 But, so, so that's what he said he wanted to do, but I was like, yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. But what, how would you want it? Like, what about showing it in front of people like showing it in the theater or having some sort of, like, live in person screening for it, because this was, you know, w