Camosun first-year University Transfer student Zara Chaudhry feels that there are certain things that can be expressed through film better than they can through other mediums, such as literature. Two of the things film can express so well, she says, are a person’s roots and diversity, which she hopes this weekend’s Diversity Film Fest will showcase.
“Media is such a great art form,” says Chaudhry. Expressing through videography or photography can show a message that sometimes words can’t really speak.”
Chaudhry is a member of the City of Victoria Youth Council community dialogue team, who focus on redefining dialogue.
“Usually, dialogue is through simple conversations in person—me talking to you. We’re trying to redefine it, where dialogue can be through different art forms; you can have a dialogue with someone while they’re reading poetry, while you’re watching a video. There’s a different sense of the dialogue if it’s through a different type of communication.”
The committee is choosing to examine this redefined dialogue through the medium of film.
“When you can kind of see the eyes of someone else through film, it really helps you relate,” says Chaudhry. “In a sense, though, what we really want to get from this is how people appreciate diversity and accept it.”
The festival will consist of five-minute films, making it easier for those submitting work, says Chaudhry.
“We really tried to aim at something that was accessible to everyone. Making a huge documentary’s not something that’s accessible to a lot of youth,” she says. “Because we’re the [City of Victoria]Youth Council, we were trying to aim at something that was shorter, a little bit more concise and easy to approach. If people didn’t have films that they had already made and they wanted to make a new film, it wouldn’t be an issue to make a five-minute film.”
Diversity isn’t something Chaudhry only observes in films—in her time at Camosun, she says, the college has taken a number of great steps surrounding issues relating to age, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.
“You can see such a great diversity of people,” she says.
But Chaudhry has some ideas on how to make future diversity-related events at the college even better.
“Although events aren’t specified specifically for gender issues or that kind of thing,” she says, “maybe combining issues in a sense where different people and different intersections can talk about their issues together, if that makes sense, rather than segregate their issues.”
Diversity Film Festival
5 pm Saturday, June 2
$5-$20 (sliding scale), Open Space
openspace.ca