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RUFF Was Anything But Rough

5/29/2018

The Ryerson University Film Festival (RUFF) was clearly punctuated by an overwhelming sense of companionship and community. From the number of repeated names in the credits of each film to the genuine gratitude and appreciation of their peers in awards acceptance speeches, it is clear that the Ryerson class of 2018 have found a way to work together and support each other, hopefully continuing for years to come. Skimming through the filmmaker bios in the back of the program guide, many artists worked on up to 11 or 12 of the short films presented over the course of the night in many different capacities, and the special thanks sections of the credits were long lists of community members stepping in to deliver each unique vision.

Examples of this teamwork that really stood out were the two big award winners of the festival. Guion, directed by Sagi Kahane-Rapport, and winner of Best Cinematography, Best Production, Best Directing, and Best Screenplay at the awards portion of the evening, brought a variety of creators on stage to accept each award and thank their fellow graduates for their help and support.

The Magic Lantern, written and directed by Youp Zondag, and winner of Best Editing and Best Production Design, felt equally as ambitious of a production in scale. Stop-motion animated using 3D printed puppets and punctuated with musical numbers, many students worked over many hours to construct the immersive, sometimes macabre, carnival world.

We are excited to see what new, hopefully equally ambitious content, comes from this graduating class.

-Katie

Young Filmmakers Telling Old Stories

5/29/2018

It's always interesting to see what common threads I come across when watching films made by young people. In my ten years of running Toronto Youth Shorts, I can usually find a recurring theme for each year. Sometimes it could be something as identifiable as the growing pains of young people. Others, it could be how young people tackle a variety of “taboo” subjects. One year it was dogs. No really, we literally received more submissions than we thought we'd ever would in a year about dogs.

This year in particular, a common thread seems to be stories centred on an older generation. From Ryerson thesis films to Humber documentaries, a significant collection of films centred around older protagonists was produced. Even in this year's TYS180 microfilm showcase, which recently played at Doors Open Toronto, many pieces examine the familial relationships filmmakers have with their parents or grandparents.

Some of these are works of fiction, such as Lauren Thomas' Step One from Humber College about a single mother dealing with her son leaving home to go to university, and Valentina Laudari's Queen of the Bums from Ryerson University revolving around a homeless woman who proclaims herself with such a title. Not all films will depict our fellow seniors with compassionate humanity like Tom Gigliotti's Walter's Way, which won the Audience Choice award at Ryerson this year. Dexter Benson-Barnett's Road Home and Nick Alberelli's Birdsong shows us two father figures with major personality flaws that deeply affect their children. On the non-fiction side, there is Shivi Silva's Finding Family depicting familial prejudice upon a gay couple and Sylvia Nowak's 206 Carlton centred around internationally infamous Holocaust denier, Ernst Zundel.

Stories about the older generation are not anything new, and it certainly wouldn't be the first time a young filmmaker tackled stories based on an older generation. Tyler Schrieder's I Love Rhonda took home the 2013 Achievement in Film Direction: Fiction award based on his love stories set in a retirement home. While we like seeing youth-based stories, it is also just as interesting to see stories on a group of people with vastly different experiences from the youth perspective. Who knows, maybe one of the films this year might see similar success as I Love Rhonda.

-Henry

Humber BFMP Films Show Range and Emotion

5/17/2018

Among thousands of students who persevered to finish their degrees during the Ontario college strike this year, the Humber College Bachelor of Film and Media Production class of 2018 had many reasons to celebrate their hard work and achievements. The night’s program showed an array of talent along with diversity of technique, and a room full of young filmmakers eager to continue to create and collaborate.

Short films in the program spread across a range of emotions and genres. Many, such as Megan Gaspar’s animation about a family vacation, Ohana, or Isaac Alfie’s exploration of growing up with Multiple Sclerosis in Tiny House, delved into personal themes and social issues while others, such as Samantha Chalmer’s The Coggler, focused on love and mortality in dystopian, sci fi worlds. A few documentaries were splattered among the fiction pieces, and the majority of films looked at variations of the ever resilient and important themes of growing up, moving on, and finding your place in the world.

For me, there were two pieces which particularly stood out in the program:

Sweet Spot, directed by Kaitlin Kealey, is an intimate, first-person documentary which explores the filmmaker’s own struggles with long distance love. Kealey’s first-person footage and narration is captivating and unique and brings a personal touch to examining long distance relationships, and more generally relationships and love at a transitional, pre-grad period of one’s life.

More lighthearted in tone but no less heartfelt, Un Pièce, directed by Kennedy Salloum, is an adorable, raucous short that follows two young siblings who, inspired by the French New Wave, endeavour to write, create, and perform an absurd, heavily stylized, play for their single mother in French -- a language neither of them understand. The production design is quite charming and a little Wes Anderson-esque (meets French New Wave of course) and both child actors give convincing and comedic performances.

Congratulations to Humber’s graduating class -- we hope to see more of your work very soon.

-Katie

Final Projects at the Ryerson School of Media

5/17/2018

It’s always a rosy experience to attend post-secondary screenings featuring graduate work. This is where they’ve put their best foot forward and display the years of devotion leading up to the spotlight.

The RTA annual practicum screening took place on a Sunday (as per usual). The first thing that struck me about this event was how it ran from 8am – 8pm. No further comment needed about how the bum got very tired. However, more importantly, it’s noteworthy and simultaneously a very heart-touching moment to see a dedicated audience clapping for each and every project. This only goes to show how supportive of a community RTA establishes.

The upcoming graduates dedicated one year’s time (at the least) on their project. It must have been such a bittersweet moment for them to see it on the big screens, and to be able to show it off to their fellow peers. Gratefully, this was also a very special moment for me because this will potentially be me in two years. I saw so many phenomenal work during the screening and it continues to inspire me of how much passion, hard work and talent can accomplish.

There was quite the variety, including narrative films, web series, documentaries, and VR projects with each project exploring a unique subject such as Tibetan culture through the exploration of food, alopecia discussed through mixing the documentary and narrative medium, the historical war from the perspective of an artist, and many more. I loved the appeal of the conceptual tale behind each project and the maturity of each production.

It was a day of celebration, gratitude, and anticipation for what these new bloods would carry forward into the paths ahead of them.

-Carri

Image from Stable, a short film produced from the Ryerson School of Media

RUFF Was Anything But Rough

Young Filmmakers Telling Old Stories

Humber BFMP Films Show Range and Emotion

Final Projects at the Ryerson School of Media

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