Bufferfest LA: What Happened
by Julie Perez
Montalban Theatre in Hollywood, CA. The festival, original held in Canada, is an annual showcase of Youtube video premieres, which brings the creators closer to their audience.
The first half of the event focused on various conversations with content creators. The day kicked off with Louis Cole going in-depth about his six-figure project and how he got it off the ground. He took the opportunity at the event to premier the first trailer of his upcoming Documentary that focuses on his 3-month (ish) flight around the world. The project that got funded by a Kickstarter campaign will focus on conversations with people from different cultures and exploration of the human spirit.
The second conversation that I attended was “The Future of Queer Distribution” which featured creators, On Mekahel, Alice Carvalho and Ashlee Marie Preston. “We are trying to create the society we want to live in” said Ashlee Marie Preston, host of the podcast Shook (which I have officially subscribed to). While I truly believe that we currently exist in a time where there is more possibilities of proper representation in creative spaces, the truth is we have a long way to go. It was refreshing to listen to creators who are actively trying to create a better future.
Though the most inspiring part of the night happened in the evening, when the content creators got to showcase the videos they had been working on. 18 videos, in the span of 3 hours and I walked out of the theatre feeling extremely motivated to create.
Jon Cozart created a musical about what happens after the “Happily Ever After”. In his production, Simba fears lions are becoming extinct, Peter Pan is upset about the fact that he’s been stuck going through puberty for 80 years and Aladdin becomes a prisoner of war. He presents the story in an acapella musical and the witty lyrics made for a hilarious experience. Shannon Boodram created a video that perfectly fit into the #MeToo conversation and while bringing both sides of the conversation (the victim and the alleged attacker), her video kept the dignity and the heart of the victim throughout.
Raya Encheva gave us an inside look of what a morning routine looks like for women around the world and as previously mentioned; Louis Cole premiered the trailer of his upcoming Documentary. Though representing a platform that slowly feels like its losing its traction in terms of possible career avenues for creative-types, the content creators at Buffer Festival gave me a bit of hope for the future of Youtube. Maybe if we ignore the pranksters and the click-bait titles we’ll eventually be left with creators who have a real vision to release projects that make an impact in this crazy world.
