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<\/a>Regardless of location and statistics, it\u2019s the films that are the beating heart of any festival; they\u2019re vehicles of emotion, good and bad, and a chance for people to be together witnessing something beautiful. In that regard, VFF is bigger than life, offering films such as Jordan Roberts\u2019 Burn Your Maps<\/i>, about a boy with the dream of living as a Mongolian goat-herder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to tell a story that was about the potential for human evolution, about how to move forward when you don\u2019t know where you are,\u201d says Roberts.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s films like Roberts\u2019\u2014ones exploring themes of identity and human relationships\u2014that make film festivals so important. The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli M\u00e4ki <\/i>too is greater than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The movie] deals with the expectations and the fear of being a failure,\u201d says Kuosmanen, adding that it could be seen as \u201can allegory for filmmaking\u2014if you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
When discussing budding filmmakers, Roberts says that they \u201cneed to pay attention to what stories are, go read good ones, go watch great films; tell stories that are about human beings.\u201d And it\u2019s this approach that both Roberts and Kuosmanen have taken, valuing the story\u2014and what the story says\u2014over the glamour of big studios and big names.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about the high budgets,\u201d says Kuosmanen. \u201cIt\u2019s about the amount of freedom. That\u2019s the priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the fest, it\u2019s the communication that a small festival can offer, and that independent films can bring, that makes film fests so valuable; when people stay cloistered in their Netflix worlds, they lose the acuteness and intensity that films can offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cCinema is communication,\u201d says Kuosmanen. \u201cIt happens between people, not inside individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n