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Monday, January 29, 2001
Teen movie fest comes to Toronto
By STEPHANIE McGRATH
Senior Editor, AllPop.com
Are you a future Steven Spielberg? Or are you harbouring a young Martin Scorsese in your house?
Naomi Hiltz, of Hiltz2 Media Group Inc., hopes thousands of parents and teens answer "yes" to those questions.
Gabrielle Union in "Bring It On" is one of the stars promoting the Toronto International Teen Movie Festival.
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Hiltz -- along with her brother and business partner Jonathan Hiltz and business partner Myles Shane -- are the proud parents of the first Toronto International Teen Movie Festival, which will run from Saturday, Oct. 27 to Sunday, Nov. 4.
The festival will showcase the work of aspiring young filmmakers ages "0-19".
"If you can be a fetus and pick up a camera you can enter," quips Hiltz.
Hiltz, who says her favourite movie of all time is Spielberg's "E.T.", is excited about the upcoming festival, but her enthusiasm can barely keep up with the steady stream of e-mails her company has received since news of the teen-movie showcase struck.
"We have gotten a lot of kids e-mailing us saying 'Thank you very much for doing this, this is great, I'm going to start making movies'. Kids have said 'I have three movies I'd like to submit that I've made already'."
According to Hiltz, the spread of video and digital video have made movie-making more accessible to teens. The introduction of technical film classes into high schools is also making teens more interested in movies and giving them the tools to make their own.
"I was in Toronto editing our feature documentary, and John and Myles were in L.A.," Hiltz explains about the birth of the festival. "They were in a coffee shop, and Myles just wrote down The Toronto International Teen Film Festival, and he turned to John and said 'What do you think of this idea?, and John said 'This is great'. Then they called me up and we all decided it would be better to call it the Toronto International Teen Movie Festival, because kids don't say 'Let's go to see a film', they say 'Let's go see a movie.' Also, a lot of our submissions are going to be on digital and video and things."
Hiltz and her partners are hoping to receive movies from all around the globe; young movie buffs who might despair about finding the cash to fly to Toronto can breathe a sigh of relief.
"We're actually currently negotiating with different airlines to get them in," she says. "We're very close with the Delta Chelsea in Toronto, and we're currently negotiating with them to put them up."
Teens who make their way to Toronto during the festival will be greeted by a typical film-festival atmosphere with all the glamour, exposure and prizes associated with movie showcases.
"On the Sunday, we're holding a gigantic awards ceremony, kind of like the Golden Globes for teens," Hiltz says. "That's where we're going to have best feature, best documentary, and within those we'll have best actor, best director."
Adding to the glamour will be familiar celebrity faces in the form of music acts and the appearance of established actors.
Already tapped to appear at Wednesday's press conference to officially announce the festival are actors Gabrielle Union ("Bring It On"), Robin Dunne ("Dawson's Creek") and Emily Hampshire (episodes of "The Associates" and "La Femme Nikita").
"We bribed them - no!," Hiltz jokingly says when asked why the actors agreed to take part in promoting the festival. "We just called them up and told the truth, that it's for teens and kids and it's a way for them to get their work out there and get it seen.
"They obviously want to be a part of that because they believe in it themselves, 'cause they're teens or close to it!"
Aside from enticing teens with images of celebrities, the festival will also provide worthy filmmakers with valuable exposure on other media outlets. For example, Hiltz and her partners are trying to reach an agreement with various broadcasters to air some of the films.
A compilation video or DVD that will include the "best of the International Teen Movie Festival" will also be made available at several video stores. There are also plans to create scholarships for deserving filmmakers.
Hiltz2 Media Group Inc. will announce more plans for their festival this Wednesday, Jan. 31.
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