For six years, Jill Orschel has curated the Annual Filmmaker’s Showcase.
Throughout the years, she has seen emerging artists find their voices through the short-film screenings, and she has seen audiences warm up to these artists.
However, Orschel has felt her main goal of offing a unique learning experience for the filmmakers has been lacking until this year.
“It’s not about putting on a great experience for the audience, but about being an experience for each individual artist to show their work and gauge the reaction of the audience,” Orschel said during an interview with The Park Record. “I love it when people, who are sometimes making films on their computer screens, are able to show their stuff on the big screen and experience their films with an audience. It’s a whole new thing for them and the reactions can inform you to make adjustments.”
Orschel, a filmmaker herself, said the showcase, which will be held this year at the Jim Santy Auditorium on Thursday, July 17, helped her find focus when she was making the film “Sister Wife” a few years ago.
“I had a totally different edit to begin with and showed it at the showcase,” she said. “After hearing what the audience had to say, I changed the whole thing around.”
Orschel said the showcase is open to everyone.
“I love the high school kids, and they have done some great work, but I also know how hard it is to be confident as an artist when a person is older,” she said. “Sometimes they feel too old to do something like this and it’s important for them to know that they can never be too old to make a film.”
That’s why Orschel tries to make sure the Filmmaker’s Showcase is a non-threatening event.
“It’s not judged or juried, because I want to be sensitive to the artists,” she said. “I really enjoy nurturing those artistic souls out there. I might not teach the technical aspects of filmmaking that come from the head, but for me it’s all from the heart and I want to help people step out of their comfort zone.”
One of those people is photographer Charlie Lansche.
“Charlie is a longtime resident and has worked at Frontier Bank and other big corporate jobs, but is also a self-taught photographer and is blossoming in his creative endeavors,” Orschel said. “His experience with the showcase is changing his life and setting a new course for him.
Lansche will present a slideshow of his wildlife photographs.
“The showcase is giving people a new way to look at his pieces, which are all so beautiful and exciting,” Orschel said.
Another filmmaker is Park City High School junior Daniel Riley, whose two-minute short, “Riding Solo,” struck a chord with Orschel.
“The film is a fresh little piece that is so exciting that we’re starting the whole showcase with it,” Orschel said.
Then there’s Ian Quill, a senior at Park City High School, who, along with classmate Cole Sax, submitted a little piece called “Recycle PC,” about paper recycling to the www.parkcitygreen.org video contest that was held during last year’s Filmmaker’s Showcase.
Quill and Sax won the first place, so Quill wanted to do another film for actual showcase.
He decided to do a four-minute film called “Defeating Silence,” which is about his classmate Alex Bullis, who, halfway through his junior year, became completely deaf.
Doctors couldn’t figure out what made Bullis lose his hearing, Quill said.
“It was quite a struggle for him, and I was really curious about what he went through, so I asked him if he would be interested in making a film about it,” Quill said. “He was completely interested because the film would serve as a closure to a weird part of his life.”
“Defeating Silence” focuses on Bullis’ struggle, and, on a larger sense, tries to concentrate the idea of overcoming challenges and obstacles.
“It also surrounds his involvement in music,” Quill said. “Alex plays guitar and sings and plays in a few bands. The film shows how his deafness effected his music and how he persevered.”
The film went through a couple of stages.
“We did some preliminary interviews and shot for two weeks, but weren’t happy with the direction, so we started over and tried to get a better angle,” Quill said. “We did not want the film to make people feel sorry for him. We wanted the audience to connect and see that although he lacked the ability to hear, he could still do what he loved.
“I’m happy about being accepted in the Filmmaker’s showcase,” Quill said. “I like to see my work shown on the big screen and see people’s reaction to my films.”
The sixth annual Filmmaker’s Showcase will be held on Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Jim Santy Auditorium of the Park City Library and Education Center, 1255 Park Ave., at 7 p.m. Admission is free.