LOCAL

Quincy family submits short film to Boston International Kids Film Festival

Jenna Manto The Patriot Ledger
Sisters Esme, 6, and Olivia, 10, goofing around as their dad, Adam, captures it on video. Greg Derr/ The Patriot Ledger

NAME: Cote Family

HOMETOWN: Quincy

IN THE NEWS: Adam Cote helped his two daughters create a short film, which they submitted to the Boston International Kids Film Festival.

NOW YOU KNOW: Adam Cote filmed the entire short on an iPhone.

THEIR STORY: After introducing their daughters to the classic black and white TV show “I Love Lucy” at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic this March, Beverly and Adam Cote found their girls loved the show so much that they decided to recreate an episode and submit their version to the Boston International Kids Film Festival.

Olivia, 10, and Esme, 6, took inspiration from an episode called “Job Switching,” in which Lucy, played by Lucille Ball, and Ethel, played by Vivian Vance, get jobs at a candy factory while their husbands try acting as the housewives for a day. The girls called their episode, “Esme Gets a Job.”

“We like coming up with the ideas for it because it’s like you can do anything for it and we were really creative with the 'Esme Gets a Job' episode,” Olivia Cote said. "And it’s really fun just to write the script and everything.”

The sisters also post “episodes” they make to their YouTube channel, “Hands On: Crafts with Olivia & Esme,” which started off with crafting videos and has turned into a space for all kinds of videos, such as their joke of the day episodes where they read jokes that are submitted.

All of the girls' videos, including their film festival submission, were shot on an iPhone.

“It kind of started because, you know, everybody always says that the iPhone is the most powerful movie making device or whatever,” Adam Cote said. "But you never really see people using it for that, and so I thought making home movies but at a higher level would be a fun thing to do.”

Since they had more time in their days during quarantine, the sisters were able to put more time into the episode they submitted to the film festival, Adam Cote said.

The trailer for their short can be found on the Boston International Kids Film Festival website, the full version of which will be shown during the three-day festival from Nov. 20 to 22.  

The duo has also created Harry Potter-themed episodes and a time travel episode inspired by "Back to the Future."

When they’re not busy coming up with ideas for their YouTube channel, Olivia Cote and Esme Cote love to play with their dolls, have play dates with their friends, and as a family they love to play the card game UNO and go to the beach in the summer.

Adam Cote films daughters, Esme, 6, and Olivia, 1.1 The family , who live in Wollaston, have been filming skits based on the sitcom "I Love Lucy."  Greg Derr/ The Patriot Ledger