(gentle music) (dramatic music) - Welcome to "TV Film," I'm Jermaine Wells.

"TV Film" showcases the talents of Upstate New York media makers across all genres.

In this episode, filmmaker Gabriel Ponte-Fleary shares the story of a Nicaraguan family who risked everything and took a leap of faith to immigrate to the U.S., in the documentary, "A Journey of Faith."

- Next, gift giving can be tricky.

"Book Ends," a quirky short story by Eric Ayotte.

- So I produced the Monthly Movie Challenge.

It's been going on for 15 years now, and it's every month we put out a theme, and welcome kind of filmmakers, non filmmakers, people brand new to it, to make a movie based on the theme.

We started in Bloomington, Indiana, so the first 10 years was there.

And it had a real, like sweet community around it.

And the screenings were really well attended.

We always had a lot of movies, and then after COVID, we were kind of starting again, and we moved to Schenectady.

And we've been seeing a nice bit of growth here in Schenectady, which is great.

It's not a competition, so it's kind of like this, we call it, "A call to create," you know, it's just, the challenge is simple, like, make a movie.

Having fun with filmmaking, that's kind of like the biggest part of it.

And I think people enjoy filmmaking, people enjoy making art.

I think sometimes we can lose sight of the, you know, why we love it to begin with, and having some fun with it.

And so this particular film, "Book Ends," was made for the theme, "It's not what you think," so that's what the prompt came from.

Person receives a gift, and they're, you know, they think they know what it is, and in some ways they're right, but in other ways they're not, 'cause it's not exactly what they think.

And it's also, more importantly, it's not what the audience thinks.

(gentle music) (doorbell chiming) - Hey, happy birthday!

- Hey!

Aww.

- Came to see ya.

- Thanks, appreciate it.

Nice to see ya.

- Yeah, hope you're having a good day.

This is, of course, for you.

- You shouldn't have.

- Of course, no problem.

Yeah.

- I wonder what it is?

- Yeah, yeah.

- My goodness.

- Well, wanna open it?

- Yeah, shall I open it now?

- Yes, please.

- Okay.

- Yeah, if you want, yeah?

(gift receiver laughing) (paper tearing) - No, I think I might know what this is.

- Really?

Don't think you do.

- No?

- No.

(box top thudding) - Oh, you got me a guy (laughing).

- Right?

- Yay (laughing).

- I mean, I saw it and I thought, "This is perfect."

- I love guys (laughing).

- Good, yeah.

- Oh.

- Its, it's great, isn't it?

- It's great, (laughing) I love it, I love it.

- What?

(gift receiver laughing) - What?

- It's, it's just, you got me a guy last year (laughing).

- Yeah, but that's, that's the old guy, right?

So it's a new model, a whole new guy.

- Oh, he does different stuff, or?

- Well, he's a new guy, I figured- - He looks the same- - I didn't see you using the old guy very much, so I thought, "Time for a new one."

- Yeah, no, I, I mean, it's great, I can use, I can use them as- - That's fine, I mean- - No!

- If you don't like it, we can return it.

- No, no no no no no, I, I, I love the guy, I love guys.

- You sure?

- No, I love it, I will definitely, I will definitely make use of him.

I really love it, thank you, thank you.

(gentle music) (book thudding) - Learn more about the films and filmmakers in this season of "TV Film," at wmht.org/tvfilm.

And be sure to connect with WMHT on social media.

I'm Jermaine Wells.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - [Announcer] "TV Film" is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the office of the governor, and the New York State Legislature.