Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Chew.
Hi Alex, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2013, a small group of fine arts teachers founded the Austin Youth Film Festival. At first, my thought was just to give my own middle and high school film students a place to show their work to a real theatrical audience, to honor their hard work, and inspire even bigger artistic ambitions. Once I connected to more educators, I think we all realized that these kids need to meet each other. And there are also plenty more young folks who have yet to gain access to a film program that is free. So it became our mission to both hold a film festival celebrating young filmmakers and bring in the kids who haven’t been given the opportunity to make a film yet. Over the years, Carrie Cates and I ran the festival as a two-person team. We accept submissions, screen them all, hand them off to judges who are professional filmmakers, and those judges choose winners in a variety of categories including drama, horror, comedy, music videos, animation, experimental, etc. Then we have our Best of Fest top three awardees who win big checks up to $1,000. Local businesses have also pitched in to provide prizes over the years, including the Alamo Drafthouse, Austin Film Festival, Austin School of Film, Precision Camera & Video, I Luv Video, Vulcan Video, and more. We love seeing the younguns interact with the pros. Past judges who have also attended the festival and spoke with our kiddos include cinematic mavericks like Richard Linklater, Jeff Nichols, Kat Candler, Owen Egerton, Burnie Burns, Ya’ke Smith, Pam Ribon, PJ Raval and so many more. We are incredibly grateful to our Austin film community for their support over the years. But I think the best part of our festival is watching the kids do Q&A with the audience. You can see the care, creativity, joy, and pride that go into crafting their movies. You can watch them inspire each other, their parents, and the whole theater! In later years, we have also ventured into year-round screenings and events run by our high school interns. Have you ever seen a “Don’t Talk or Text” ad before your movie plays at the Alamo Drafthouse? If there are kids in the ad, AYFF produced that and the filmmakers were all under 18! We also run volunteer film clubs at other non-profits where young folks are just getting their hands on cameras for the first time! Our mission is always to help these talented young artists produce the movies, workshops, networking, and learning opportunities that they themselves want to explore. The kids drive our mission in every way.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
At first, our biggest challenge was establishing a non-profit film festival with no money and little time. As teachers, we were already prepping and grading at home on top of the 40-hour work week in our classrooms and even on sets with our own film students. But we were determined to give even more kids the same opportunities as our students to create and showcase films. Our program grew steadily until… 2020. The pandemic is an ongoing challenge. Theatrical venues and sponsors in the film industry are not as able to donate and work with non-profits as they did before. A lot of film programs that were being fostered at local schools and programs have been eliminated. And COVID cases have forced us to cancel festival events. These are rebuilding years all over again, but as long as young people want a festival that is dedicated to helping them learn new skills, network with peers and professionals, and exhibit their work… We’ll be here.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m now a full-time professional screenwriter and filmmaker.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was obsessed with movies. My parents bought me a camcorder at a yardsale when I was in middle school and I haven’t stopped filming since. In high school, I thought winning an award at the Corbin Kentucky Film Festival was as good as an Oscar, and that even was put together by a group of teachers in a part of the country where the world of movies and filmmakers feels very far away. Impossible, even. But these teachers gave us kids a deadline. A goal to aspire to. And a place to play our movies on a screen big enough for the whole town to see. They inspired me to keep dreaming bigger, and I’ve always been grateful for that. Austin Youth Film Festival was a way to pay it forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://austinyouthfilmfestival.org/
- Instagram: @austinyouthfilmfest
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/austinyouthfilmfestival/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzY8mP4jaAXvZrZhJRSsH9g?app=desktop
