A group of Buffalo filmmakers is headed to Cannes Film Festival next month to show a short film of their own making.
It is a significant honor for the filmmakers and for Western New York, showcased throughout the piece.
The 7-minute-film was created by the Partially Submerged Elephants, a group of Buffalo filmmakers. It was made for the 48 Hour Film Project last year and it is called "Ride of Your Life."
The title has become a rather accurate metaphor for the ride these filmmakers have been on the past few months.
"The film was always intended to be sort of a metaphor," Travis Carlson, one of the filmmakers, said. "You know we're going on these winding, twisting journeys that go up and down and tilt a whirl is such a good metaphor for life. You certainly could intercut all of our experience in the past few days, weeks with that exact journey."
Shot throughout Western New York, including the Erie County Fair last summer, "Ride of Your Life" follows a woman reliving her most powerful memories on a supernatural amusement park ride.
The filmmakers made the film within the rules of the 48-hour competition meaning they got a genre, character, profession, lines and a prop and had a mere 48 hours to make something.
"Every year, by the end, you're kind of like I'm never doing this again," Aaron Rizzo, another filmmaker, joked. "But then when you watch your film, you're like 'I can't wait for next year.'"
But before they jump to that next one, they are still riding the successes of this one. In the Buffalo chapter of the 48 Hour Film Project, they won Best Film of 2017. That qualified them for Filmapalooza in Paris where they walked away with Top 5 in the world for Best Film. And that got them a screening in one of the most prestigious festivals: the Cannes Film Festival this coming May.
"The perception of Cannes is so like unattainable," Carlson said. "It feels like so unfair that you could get there with a really dedicated weekend and a budget. And now we'll be competing against films that actually had time and a budget and a ton of pre-production. It feels a little surreal."
As they compete against the best films in the world, they will be representing Buffalo all the way. Many in the Partially Submerged Elephants admit that they thought they'd have to pursue their filmmaking careers elsewhere, like New York City or Los Angeles. But with this film, they found otherwise.
"It's validation that Buffalo has it going on," Maria Marinaccio, a part of the group, said. "The talent we have here is meant for the international stage and I think that is that first step to make people in Buffalo realize that we really are in the running and that just feels unbelievable."
Ride of Your Life has become a ticket for these filmmakers to a ride of their own lives...a ride they hope they won't have to get off anytime soon.
If you want to help these local filmmakers get to the Cannes Film Festival and continue the ride of their own lives, they have a GoFundMe page set up. You can also watch the seven minute short film there.