BY PAMELA JO BOWMAN, MESA, ARIZONA – Tonight, I was able to view the Grand Prize winners of last year’s PBS/ITVS Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival. I watched “ Paris, 1951” and “Someday Flowers Bloom.” These two films are works of art and works of love.

Viewing them reminded me of my hope and reinforced my commitment that more voices be heard. I believe the movie audience is hungry for good stories told in a unique way from a distinctive, individual point of view. As with a good book, the audience is able to find insight into themselves in a story that opens the doorway to the life of another. Our human ability to empathize and relate makes it become a story of self.

I believe good movies will always find an audience in America. The audience is becoming more sophisticated (although we also have shorter attention spans). This can create a quandary, especially if, as an artist, you want to …eat. Digital filmmaking has reduced the cost of making films to the point that more storytellers are choosing to tell their story based on the joy of telling a meaningful story rather than just for the joy of making the money. Eventually though, a filmmaker has to value his or her work enough to charge for it. To finally realize that your work has worth is a day and moment worth documenting. It is a powerful moment that disspates quickly, but slowly comes back to linger longer until an artist sells his work more frequently.

Visualize a world where everyone has the time to use their creativity in some capacity. Envision the everyday joy of living and creating. As I work on the films and write screenplays, it is what I experience every day. Everyone should be involved in some capacity of creating their works of art! If done with pure intent then they are works of love. And most people recognize that when you are in love everything and anything is possible.

For your viewing enjoyment, PBS/ITVS Online Shorts.