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Anna Explores the 2015 Toronto Student Film Festival

4/23/2015

 
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Mustard-flavoured popcorn and jazz music set up the scene for the 10th annual Toronto Student Film Festival on April 17th this year. The festival took place in the newly revitalized Innis Town Hall, the heart of Innis College and a vital space for Toronto’s film scene. The newly renovated facilities were clean-cut, modern, and overall, impressive!

The festival’s lineup contained many pieces from our home territory of Canada, as well as many others from the international landscape. All the films in this festival were fantastic and we really wish that we could incorporate them all into our own festival.  In the end our favourite was Tanabata by Annie Amaya, a film and animation student at Concordia University. This film also won the Award for Best Animation at the festival. Tanabata was a short and sweet film that retold the story of the classic Japanese myth through stop animation and digital animation. Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime, the Vega star, and Hikoboshi, the Altair star. In summary: Orihime, the daughter of Tentei, wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (otherwise known as the heavenly river) and since her father loved the cloth she wove, she worked extremely hard each day weaving the cloth. However, she became sad; because of her hard work, she would never meet and fall in love with anyone. Tentei was concerned or his daughter and arranged for her to Hikoboshi, a cow herder that lived on the other side of the Amanogawa. It was love at first sight and the happy couple married shortly thereafter. But problems quickly arose; Orihime became distracted and no longer wove cloths for Tentei, whereas Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. This angered Tentei and separated the couple, forbidding them from ever seeing each other again. Both became depressed because of the separation. With tears in her eyes, Orihime begged her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and gave the two permission to meet again on two conditions: they only meet on the 7th day of the 7th month and she had to finish her weaving. Sadly though, they couldn’t cross the Amanogawa the first time they tried to meet because there was no bridge. Orihime shed so many tears that a flock of magpies offered to make a bridge with their wings so they could cross the river. This film shared the heartbreaking moment in which the two were separated due to stormy skies and rain.   

Some of the other films screened definitely deserve another round of applause! The Deceased, directed by Nastasia Pappas-Kemps, told the comedic story of a suicidal 9-year-old. The young girl reminisced about how much she enjoyed living, but could not wait to leave because she had been here for so long. Birthday Boy, a black and white film that gave off a Tim Burton-like vibe, also stood out. The short had an extremely interesting story line and great cinematography. Other standout films include Two Idiots In a Boat, Such Morning Songs, and Beneath The Cotton Cloud.

And, we’re so excited for our friends at the Toronto Student Film Festival, who are completely re-branding for their second decade of existence! Starting next year, the organization will take on a new name “Take 21”, as well as begin workshops and educational programs with schools across the country. So drop by next year and take a look! The films were sweet, sad, comedic, inspiring, and most importantly filled with raw talent. And besides, who can resist free popcorn?

-Anna


The Awe-Inspiring Adventure of TIFF Kids

4/16/2015

 
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I had the pleasure of volunteering with TIFF Kids this weekend, and was happy to see how engaged these young film buffs were with the festival. I was working at the Passport Bureau, a new initiative where kids receive a passport to keep track of how many films they see. I was amazed to see that on the opening weekend, some kids had already seen 3 films, and were planning on seeing more. It was great to see how excited these youngsters were about catching as many festival films as they could, especially since the caliber of these films is a lot higher than the average Hollywood kids film. 

Many of the films focus on different cultures and lifestyles, such as Landfill Harmonic (Graham Townsley), a documentary about children who live on a landfill site in Paraguay and make a living by selling recycled items from the trash. The programming also features films which do not shy away from revealing the diverse struggles that youth face today, such as Hear Me, a series of shorts that deal with issues such as growing up transgendered and facing discrimination from classmates in a new country. I am glad to see that Torontonians are being exposed to such thought-provoking films at a young age.

Another component of the festival which I admire is the TIFF Kids Young People’s Jury. Every year, TIFF selects a jury of ages 8-13 to attend the films at TIFF Kids and select the winners of The Young People’s Jury Award for Best Feature Film and Best Short Film. As a programmer for Toronto Youth Shorts, I am thrilled to see this opportunity for young kids to develop their love of film, and critical thinking skills in such a sophisticated way. If these kids aspire to work in the film industry, TIFF is giving them a great head start!

I am looking forward to volunteering again at TIFF Kids this coming weekend to share in the excitement of these young and cultured film fans! 

-Julia


TIFF Kids Is In Town

4/14/2015

 
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I had the chance to volunteer with TIFF Kids this past weekend and was amazed as always by the quality of the films on offer and the level of audience engagement. One of the most rewarding parts of the festival each year is seeing how diverse youth-oriented films from around the world can really be—and how different cultures value youth engagement with the arts. As film fans and filmmakers alike know, it’s possible to create sophisticated, high-quality work for all audiences. 

TIFF Kids has even succeeded in creating loyal fan bases for some international franchises, such as the German Famous Five series and Denmark’s Antboy. During Sunday’s Q+A with Famous Five director Mike Marzuk, the audience demonstrated passion and interest on par with the most seasoned festival crowd. And based on the quality of questions and technical knowledge in the crowd, I think it’s safe to say there were a lot of future filmmakers in attendance. 

TIFF Kids will continue through April 19.

-Paul

2015 WIFT-T Showcase

4/2/2015

 
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Yesterday I attended the Women in Film and Television Toronto (WIFT-T) Showcase at The Royal. Eight short films by WIFT-T members were screened, a mix of work by emerging talent and established professionals. It was great to see some familiar faces, including Heidi Tao Yang (TYS2014 jury member), Alison Rheaume (My Brother's Keeper, TYS2011), who now works with WIFT-T and Elaine Poon (EXT 5683 L-O-V-E, TYS2009), who showed her most recent short, Entrain, at the event. 

One of the evening's highlights included Lines by Amy Jo Johnson who also stars and reunites with her Flashpoint co-star, Enrico Colantoni in shiny plastic makeup playing a sleazy dermatologist who tries to sell Johnson on his botox injections. One of the producer of Lines is Jessica Adams, (The Highwayman, TYS2009). Arranged by Renuka Jeyapalan stars Anne Blythe from the webseries Space Janitors and is a light-hearted take on the dreaded tale of relationship woes and the need to find companionship and love. Emily Piggford returns to the frosty screens of the CFC in Slater Jewell-Kemker's Still, who continues to impress with her range. Given Your History by Molly McGlynn is a poignant portrayal of familial love and loss starring Katie Boland from Reign.

The shorts were diverse in content and the one thing I was personally pleasantly surprised about was that it didn't beat you over the head with "female themes" for the lack of a better term. While most of the shorts centered around a female protagonist, the stories would be equally effective if the genders were reversed. It's nice to see universal stories like these that celebrate a particular community without the need to emphasize how different they are. 

If you're in the industry and are looking for a supportive network that aids in your career development as a filmmaker, consider becoming a member of WIFT-T. They also have student rates available. Perhaps you can have your work shown alongside some of these big names at next year's showcase.

-Henry

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