A group of friends from southern Ontario are "over the moon" as their film will hit the big screen at the Forest City Film Festival (FCFF) this month.
Joel Pilotte and Alex (Cosmo) Lutz, both from Sarnia, recently co-produced a film that highlights the influence of an audio designer, Gilbert Yeung.
The Canadian audio designer, originally from Hong Kong, established a company called Blue Circle and has been pushing the limits of audio reproduction for over 30 years.
"He doesn't follow any sort of playbook. He does things on his own, doesn't conform to any norms, essentially in any part of his life," said Pilotte while discussing the inspiration behind the film's title Rocking The Boat.
Pilotte first learned about Yeung's work through Mike Woodcock, owner of Absolute Sound in Chatham.
"The detail I am able to hear in some of my favourite recordings has made my love and appreciation for music stronger with every listen," said Pilotte in a social media post.
After a discussion with Woodcock one afternoon, Pilotte decided to reach out to Lutz, who currently works in the film industry in Vancouver.
Lutz then reached out to fellow Fanshawe alumni, Chris Ma of Toronto. Ma helped edit the audio and wrote an original score for the film.
"Both of them worked on this project in their spare time. I think it was great how much work and effort they put in, and I think the video really shows that," said Pilotte.
Filming began in December 2021 and the story takes place between Innerkip and Chatham.
Initially, it was supposed to be a profile on Yeung and his contributions to the audio world. However, Pilotte said as they filmed, it "became much more than that."
After the film was completed, Lutz submitted it to the FCFF.
"When they got back to us and said that they would love to have it included in the festival, we were just over the moon!"
Pilotte said it's great to know that this film will be seen by a larger audience, outside of the audio community.
"I think it turned into more of a project -- or film -- about acceptance and staying true to who you are and I think that would have an impact on a lot more people than just people who would be interested in music or stereo equipment," said Pilotte. "That's sort of why it's really exciting that we were able to do this project the way we did."
Looking back over the past 10 months, Pilotte described the opportunity as "a unique experience."
"Together, being co-producers, we definitely helped make the film the way that we both wanted it to be in the end. There was a vision that I had for what I wanted to portray in the film and there were also things that [Lutz] wanted to include. I think we put something together that's really great."
FCFF will take place in downtown London from October 15 until October 23, and will feature 85 films.
Rocking The Boat will be shown on Saturday, October 22 at 3 p.m. at Wolf Performance Hall. For those unable to attend in-person, most films will be available to stream through the FCFF's website.
Lutz also co-produced and directed another film, Busker, which will be featured at the festival on October 23 at 12:30 p.m. at Wolf Performance Hall.