UGFTV Chair Ezra Sacks spoke with Anatola Araba Pabst, President of the Tisch student group Filmmakers of Color in Unity and Support (FOCUS) to learn more about what they do, and how they are supporting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists at Tisch. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Ezra: Hi Anatola! Can you tell me more about FOCUS and how long you’ve been involved?
Anatola: FOCUS was created over five years ago, and was originally started by UGFTV faculty. Now, it’s completely student-led and run. Spring 2021 will be my fourth semester with the organization and second semester serving as President. FOCUS’s mission is to foster a community and support system for filmmakers of color at NYU. It’s a great place to connect with people who have similar interests, and to find collaborators that share common backgrounds and diverse perspectives. Since participating, I’ve met a lot of people that I ended up being a producer for, or contributing in other ways to their productions. FOCUS helps provide a community of people at Tisch that you can meet and reach out to, whose creative ideas you can trust.
Members come to us with a wide range of issues they want to explore, from how to get started in the industry, or how to make a project idea a reality, to how to navigate the community here at Tisch. It’s a great network to come to with questions or to find collaborators, and to learn from other members. For example, we have had conversations with alumni from Grad Film about their journeys to becoming screenwriters and making the move from NYC to LA. People love to ask questions about the trials, tribulations, and success stories that alumni have experienced right after they have graduated.
Ezra: What kind of events do you run, and what do you have planned?
Anatola: We host discussions about diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry, as well as with faculty at NYU. We’ve also done things like host a discussion about finances and managing money as a filmmaker and artist. We host work-in-progress screenings, where people can get feedback on a script or first cut. These feedback sessions have been great -- as BIPOC creatives, it’s good to have a safe space to be able to share your work with an audience who can give feedback on cultural or sensitive parts of your story. Other past events have included vision board workshops, guided meditations, and screenings of films by fellow filmmakers of color. For example, Stefon Bristol, the director of See You Yesterday, spoke with us about how he turned his short film into a feature which was acquired by Netflix.
As for the future, we are very excited about the first annual FOCUS Film Festival, which will be a festival to celebrate and showcase films made by artists of color in our NYU community. We’re currently in planning stages, and hope to launch it in Spring 2021 as a virtual festival. We will be offering awards in a variety of different categories from documentary, to experimental, to narrative. We’re really open to filmmakers of all skill levels to participate.
Ezra: How can people get involved in FOCUS?
Anatola: We post all our events and updates on our Facebook and Instagram pages, so following or contacting us there is a good place to start. Students can also email focus.tisch@nyu.edu or contact me at aap609@nyu.edu or our Treasurer, Elias Rivera, directly at er2433@nyu.edu. The group is led by UGFTV students but we welcome members from across NYU, and we particularly encourage freshmen and lowerclassmen to reach out and get involved. If there is a conversation or topic that students would like to see FOCUS address, please reach out to us! We are really open and responsive to suggestions.
The virtual FOCUS Film Festival will be held on April 9-10, 2021. Submissions are open through Sunday, February 28. Submit & more info: tinyurl.com/FOCUS-Film-Submission
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/focus_tisch/