HE MIGHT only be 21 years old, but over the last five years local filmmaker Mandela Fubler has already left his mark on the industry with two entries in the Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF), and plans to produce films telling the story of Bermuda and its people.The former Warwick Academy student produced his first BIFF film, Rock Music in Bermuda at the age of 16 and followed this up with Jokers are Trumps>earlier this year.

In an interview with the Mid-Ocean News$>Mr. Fubler spoke of his love of classic movies and his dreams of returning to Bermuda following university — he is currently completing a Double Major in Communications and Sociology at York University in Toronto.

“The first time I can remember thinking I wanted to make movies was when I saw Bermuda Grace by Mark Sobel in 1994 — I’ve been interested in filmmaking ever since,” he recalled.

“My dad used to rent a lot of classic videos from the library and everything about movies seemed magical, and I when I was younger I wanted to know where movie magic came from.”

Mr. Fubler was only 12 when he attempted his first movie and recalls with a laugh the effort it took to produce what eventually turned into a two-minute spy short that didn’t even have a title.

“I used a Hi-eight camcorder and there wasn’t a script or storyboards or editing,” he says, adding that his younger sister Naeemah was his leading star. “I would love to have her as a leading actress in one of my upcoming projects.”

In true M. Night ShyamalaThe Village and Sixth Sense) style, he continued to produce short films throughout high school, using anybody who wanted to help as actors, always without scripts and improvising as they went along.

When asked where he gets his inspiration from, Mr. Fubler ponders the question briefly: “I like directors with unpredictable styles. Some of my favourite directors growing up were Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, Christopher Guest, and Guy Richie.”

To keep up-to-date with changing technology and the industry, Mr. Fubler has been working behind the scenes at the Bermuda Broadcasting Company since 2001 and has worked on ZBMRs Youth Talk, while also remaining involved in the Bermuda Music and Dramatic Society programmes.

In the future he plans to work in the film industry and says he would like to tell stories about Bermuda, using two of the most powerful mediums — film and music.

He says the positive response his entries in the BIFF received, encouraged him to continue with his filmmaking, but admits that it was incredibly hard producing something every Bermudian could relate too.

“I wanted characters that a local audience could connect deeply with, and a short film is like a really long commercial, and you still have to keep the audience’s attention for those ten or 15 minutes,” he explained.

“The hardest part of producing the Jokers Are Trs <$>film was making the best edit with so little time. The challenge was balancing the information with the humour, having the story progress at a steady pace and having it all make sense.”

His family have been very supportive of his interest in film and he adds his mother Deonn and father Glenn to his list of role models, along with Ronald Lightbourne and Errol Williams.

Music is another of Mr. Fubler’s passions and he composes most of his film’s soundtrack; attributing his inspiration to Wendell ‘Shine’ Hayward.

When asked if he sees himself as a role model, Mr. Fubler chuckles and responds that he hopes other young filmmakers will see him as such and learn by example.

“The best way that I learned was from experimenting on my own,” he adds with a broad smile.

His advice? “Don’t be afraid to take out a camera and start recording anything and everything. Use your imagination, capture it on camera and you’ll be well on your way to making your own movie.”

|0x95|Mr. Fubler’s movies are for sale and he can be contacted at bluefoxinc@gmail.com for more information.