Artscene Oakville Beaver · WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2006 17 Local filmmaker impresses international film festival By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Artworks show Having the opportunity to screen one of his short films at the 59th Festival de Cannes was a "life-changing experience" for Neil De Sousa. The 30-year-old Oakville filmmaker showed A Father's Duty to an audience of more than 400 earlier this summer at the renowned festival, and attracted a lot of attention. "It was a very surreal experience," said De Sousa, smiling. "The film interested a lot of producers from all over the world, and it gave me an opportunity to really look at filmmaking as a world market." A St. Ignatius of Loyola grad, De Sousa wrote, edited, produced, directed and shot the 30-minute film himself. That's what impressed many of those who caught the screening of A Father's Duty in Cannes' Short Films Corner. "The response was very good. Everybody who's seen it had nothing but good things to say about it," he said. "Everyone was amazed I was able to do so much as an independent filmmaker." The film features eight actors, five of whom are from Oakville, including Steve Cardoso, who plays the lead role of Steve Rosa. A Father's Duty is about Rosa, a championship racecar driver who has to abandon his racing career because his wife dies suddenly of a heart attack. "This forces him to come Neil De Sousa home to look after his threeyear-old son," said De Sousa. "He's obsessed and consumed with racing, always has been. His wife has done everything in the home and he took that for granted, so this is a big challenge for him. "It's about a man coming to grips with learning his duty as a father." De Sousa shot most of the film in Oakville in various locations. The racing footage, though, was shot in California in Nov. 2005, when he first started making the movie. "I was in the back of a very souped up Ford Mustang," he said of the racing sequences in the film. "I was getting all this incredible racing footage, all of them racing towards me in my frame. It was exhilarating." De Sousa had the help of racecar driver Robert Scheer, pace car driver John Giller and Pat Kneip, president of the Vintage Auto Racing Association, who helped bring the auto parts of the film alive. After the car shots were done, De Sousa moved the scene to Oakville and in May 2006 just in time for Cannes A Father's Duty was ready for screening. "When I'm making films, it brings me to life," he said, smiling. "My spirit is at its highest. There's nothing that compares for me to the rush of making a film. For me, that's the ultimate high." De Sousa uses all of his own resources to fuel that passion. It's an interest he's had since he was a little boy growing up in India. A graduate of UCLA's film school in 1996 after taking English literature and history at the University of Toronto, he was able to work in the Hollywood industry while he was in school in Los Angeles. "I got a lot of practical experience there," said De Sousa, who did a six-month internship with ABC and worked on shows like NYPD Blue and Home Improvement. He also got work experience with both Cinergi and Columbia Pictures. "That was the greatest part of L.A," he said, "I had the opportunity to work in so many different aspects." De Sousa has now made seven short films. This summer was his first trip to Cannes after a friend suggested he apply. "It was such a good experience," he said, adding that because he grew up in India, went to boarding school in England and then immigrated to Canada in 1988, he has a "world perspective" that comes out in his films. BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER ON DISPLAY: Local artist Colleen Ewing is seen here with one of her pieces that's currently being shown at Ristorante Julia, 312 Lakeshore Rd. E. The Artworks show runs until Oct. 18. See Local page 18