Vancouver Film School graduates are headed to Cannes after their short film was selected for the prestigious annual film festival.
"Butterfly" has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival's Short Film Corner, a program devoted to shorter works from around the world, says the festival's website.
The selection is that much more impressive because the program doesn't solely accept student entries, said a Tuesday news release.
"When I got the news that we were selected for Cannes I needed to read the email twice, I wasn't sure if I was reading it well," producer Lesly Cazares said. "After calling (director) Arlein (Garcia) I called my mom. She started crying and it made me cry too. Nothing better than to know that your mom is proud of your work.”
"Butterfly" tells the story of a real estate agent and family man whose life will be affected by the actions of complete strangers: Colin, a drug user trying to sell his house, and Jodie, an elderly lesbian trying to care for a mentally ill partner.
Director Garcia got the idea from a story a friend told him about a boyfriend who died after a series of events.
"She told me the story of the butterfly that flaps its wings in Brazil and how that can start a tornado in Texas," Garcia said in the news release. "Three years later, here in Vancouver at film school, I realized how very much I now understand what she was talking about through my own recent life-changing events.”
The good news comes amidst a difficult time for the B.C. film industry, which claims that the provincial government needs to do more to support it if it wants to keep big productions on the West Coast.
The Cannes Film Festival runs May 15 - 26.
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