Category: Student Screenings

The Big Screen Student Film Festival in Etobicoke

4/12/2016

After school on Monday, I left right at 3:30 to rush over to The Big Screen Student Film Festival put on by the Etobicoke School of the Arts at a Cineplex in Etobicoke. This festival was created to showcase student work in front of classmates and industry professionals, and was funded by Scotiabank. I was a couple minutes late, so I didn’t get the chance to pick up any popcorn!

The large theatre was practically full (it was a really popular event) so I took a seat in the very front row and craned my neck up to see the huge screen. Each film shown began with a title slide with the director’s name and grade, which I found provided a nice division between films and helped me to keep track of different directors.

I can say in all honesty that I truly enjoyed each film; it was a very well programmed event, with varying themes and styles. I especially enjoyed A Dying Man Names Steve by Tristan Surman, which is about a man who “after finding out that he is going to die, … realizes that he has to find a new home for his dog before he goes”. It’s humorous, has a cast of great actors, and there was a beautiful atmosphere throughout the film evoked through the use of music and cool colours.

Another favourite is Petrichor by Carol Nguyen; described as “a guide to love and loss”, which features earthworms and graceful poetry.

After all the films were shown, there was a brief awards ceremony. Some of the awards included Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Sound Design. It was great to see films get recognition and to hear the support everyone had for each other. It was a wonderful festival with amazing films and filmmakers!

-Avondale

A Recap of the U of T Film Fest: Christian's First Film Festival

4/6/2016

There was no better way to end a week off of school than seeing what the Toronto university film community had to offer.

I had never been to this type of event before, so I was very excited. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived. Having never been in Hart House before, I was immediately captured by it's charm, and beauty. When I met with the rest of the Youth Shorts programming team, we climbed a set of stairs and entered a small room, filled with rows of chairs. I knew that I was going to have a good night when I saw what was at the back of the room - free food. My compliments to the U of T Film Festival organizers for not only understanding the importance of food at these types of events, but for providing such a wide and enjoyable selection of snacks. The baked brie was a particular favourite. Anyway, I digress. It was very interesting for me to see what caliber of diverse films the youth film community was producing.

I had a few favourites from the night:

Kicking things off was a brief animated piece by Carla Veldman titled Uncle Antlers. Centered around a girl and her imaginary friend, Uncle Antlers, this film told an emotional and relevant story as to how our imaginations change as we age, and how the things we once held dear can be cast aside as we grow up (or at least that was how I interpreted it). The charming hand-drawn style and beautiful musical accompaniment made this my favourite short of the first part of the program.

The Blood Royal by Carlo Schefter instantly drew my attention with it's energetic, and driving soundtrack. The grungy and experimental film noir stylings were something that really differentiated it from any other film seen that night.

Although the two films above stood out the most to me, I would to say that all the films were very different, and did something to set themselves apart from the others. This wide range of vastly different pieces is what made my first film festival one that I will always remember.

-Christian

Jury Duty at the 2015 Zoom Student Film Festival

6/2/2015

Julia, Anna, and I sat on the jury for the 2015 Zoom Student Film Festival, this being my fourth time serving in this capacity. Can’t believe it’s been that long but it was great getting reacquainted with Addison Wyle, who has been covering Toronto Youth Shorts for quite some time and has since moved to Peterborough, and Joe Frankel, founder of Zoom. Elaine Poon (Ext. 5693, TYS2009) and Gesila Azorbo (Critics Panel, TYS2014) also served on the jury this year.

There were some personal highlights of the evening that ended up winning a few awards. Hunger’s Core is an experimental animated piece with powerful hand-drawn images resembling old water colour portraits that’s sharp and really resonates with the theme of the piece. Phoebe’s Declassified Guide to Unwanted Pickups is a how-to video in the style of a vlog with a YouTube aesthetic that’s light and a perfect way to engage their core audience on a serious topic. Straw is another fun piece that manages to bring inanimate objects, this case being cups and straws, to life. It’s also rare to see an animated piece at the high school level with story rather than just a backdrop for a concept or social message.

Award winners of the night include
-Best Picture: Hunger’s Core
- Best Director: Rebecca Gao for Phoebe’s Declassified Guide to Unwanted Pickups
-Best Performance: Sara Waisglass
-Best Animation: Straw

The festival’s programming was opened up for international selections this year. The lineup offered a variety of formats as well, including music videos and PSAs. This mishmash may be the result of an event that is student content-focused in nature, where most content stemmed from some kind of class assignment, but I wonder if this is truly the case anymore. I’ve often heard opinions that certain types of content do not belong in a film festival yet it’s interesting to see more and more festivals, including TIFF, reject this notion. We at Toronto Youth Shorts have certainly done so in the past. Television programs, webseries, and even short form social content are becoming more and more cinematic every day and having a festival include a television pilot, a webisode, or in Zoom’s case, a few PSAs is an interesting parallel to the ever-expanding way audiences are consuming content.

-Henry

York U 3rd and 4th Year Film Screenings

5/14/2015

3rd Year Screening

I had the pleasure of attending the York U Department of Film's 3rd Year Finish Line screenings at the Price Family Cinema this past week. Fellow TYS programmer Julia Crocco and I took in 7 (!) hours of video and film over the course of a two-night program that emphasized documentary and experimental narrative. Though we were consistently impressed by the talent on display, a few works in particular really excited us.

Emmerek Vanleur's documentary Cultivate which followed a young man seeking closure after his experiences on a fundamentalist religious farm, managed a rare feat in documentary filmmaking by telling a riveting story while remaining emotionally honest. The short kept us on the edge of our seats, developing a sense of suspense usually reserved for fiction film and long-form works. Following a different tradition in documentary filmmaking, Peter Howie's Pizzo (Extortion) investigated the fascinating and surprisingly shadowy world of the Windsor, Ontario pizza business.

At the other end of the spectrum, Daria Savic's experimental short Dynasties provided viewers with an immersive, almost meditative experience. By blending audio interviews with dreamlike images, the film offered a unique and complex take on what the program called “age-old themes of domestic abuse and family.”

As always, our hats are off to all the filmmakers who participated, and we can't wait to see them again at the 4th Year Finish Line.

-Paul

4th Year Screening

I went to York so it goes without saying that I attended York's 4th year film screenings. I love seeing what they churn out every year. As I tweeted right after it, some good stuff was seen!

This year in particular offered us a wider and more diverse range of stories. I was pleased to see a number POC stories and casts – the films were cohesive, intelligent, well acted and realized. We also noticed that York filmmakers this year experimented a lot with forms of digital communication depictions on screen. It's here! The trend of on-screen-messaging has officially hit York as well!

Blue Eyed Drunks by director Abdul Malik was one that particularly impressed me in that respect, with its unique use of typography and design in a story about two out of place immigrants dealing with their new world. In a similar vein there was Net Folk, which gave us a a look into the Millennials and the growing digital sphere, particularly the interaction of people on and offline.

Standouts in fiction from both nights were Muna, the story of a child soldier, and The Gift, a couple's strained relationship set at the time of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Henry and I also really liked The Crocodile and the Capybara, which was a story of two brothers' doomed relationship, with shades of fairytale fantasy. Henry pointed out to me that he's coming to view these sibling stories as a permanent York fixture, and thinking back to my own screenwriting classes I have to agree. I even wrote one that was work-shopped. What can I say, sibling relationships are inherently interesting to me as an only child. Kristina Mileska (TYS2013 and 2014 award winner) and Andy Kloske's Asteroid was a highly anticipated film for us, having screened another film by them last year at the festival (Florence and the Fish) and I'm pleased to say our faith was rewarded.

There was documentary as well: I enjoyed Haunted by Presence for its rich visuals and deliberation on art and the process of creating, and A Woman Departed which was described as “a letter to a loved one, lost”.

There was also a larger number of alternative and experimental films this year. As they are not my forte, I feel my commentary should stay limited, but I did find Magician's Machina visually rich and arresting. Aforementioned Abdul Malik was the DOP and if he's reading this he knows to definitely include it in a future demo reel as he really shines here.

I hope we have the opportunity to offer some of these up for viewing again at our 2015 festival!

Submissions are still open and this year we've made it easier for our applicants – you can submit online with less hassle and paperwork. Click here to submit your film, or scroll up to find our submissions page!

-Sia

Gabby & Alex Take In Great Films at RUFF

5/8/2015

DAY 1

The 18th annual Ryerson University Film Festival held in Ryerson’s very own theater, presented audiences with a very strong lineup of student made short films. From comedy, to sci-fi, to drama, the festival presented diversity in not only genre but content and subject matter. The quality of the films exhibited in this year’s festival exceeded all of any expectations we could have ever had. Each piece told an engaging and emotional story, enhanced by the high quality acting, cinematography and sound design. A large quantity of the films on Day 1 of the festival felt very raw with real people telling real stories in real worlds. Most notably, Bookends by Pia Abrahams, Dreaming is a Private Thing by AJ Smith, Menesetung by Kyle McDonnell and Mannish Boy by Ryan Tonelli stood out as films that could definitely be presented in professional industry festivals such as TIFF.

The overall highlight of the evening was undoubtedly Mannish Boy, a coming of age drama set in 1970’s Brooklyn, NY. This heartfelt piece explores the relationship between two brothers tied up in street crime while touching on topics of racism and police brutality relevant in the 1970’s. There are so many aspects of this film, which make it the incredible and impressive piece it is. Most notably, maintaining the illusion of 1970’s Brooklyn in 2015 Toronto requires a large amount of strategic pre-production research and planning. The art department did a phenomenal job in capturing the aesthetic of the 1970’s in a Brooklyn setting through costume, set design, prop and colour pallet choices. The cherry on top was the final twist at the end of the short, which left audiences on the edge of their seats wanting more (or maybe it was just us).

-Gabby

DAY 2

The second night of RUFF was exciting because after screening many more fantastic films, there was also an award ceremony. Ryan Tonelli's short film Mannish Boy took home several awards. My favourites of the night were Cafe Caveat directed by Tim MacLennan, Earth to Avery directed by Julianna Notten, and NrG Elite directed by Emmett Fraser. NrG Elite was my overall favourite because it struck all the right notes in terms of editing, humour and production design.

This was my first time at RUFF, and it was the best-run student film festival I've attended so far. I look forwarded to seeing future projects by each of the film-making teams . More information about all of the RUFF films can be found here: http://www.imagearts.ryerson.ca/ruff/

We wish the Ryerson Film Class of 2015 good luck as they culminate their education and enter the professional film industry.

-Alex

Henry Checks Out Humber's Studio Drama Screening

5/7/2015

Humber College rounded out their year-end screenings last Thursday with a showcase of their 2nd year students in the three year Film and Television Production program. Students were tasked with creating 5-10 minute dramas all taking place in an environment that’s constructed from a studio set.

The coordinators who introduced the program of the night mentioned they had four weeks to storyboard, cast, build the set, and shoot the piece. Some pieces were all set in one spot while a number of others featured various locations, meaning they had to tear down and reconstruct another set within their production period.

As expected, most of the program featured character pieces, such as Mia by Andrea Zuniga-Farias and New Ink written by Alissandre Terriah. The Art of Losing is more atmospheric, highlighting the production design aspects of the assignment in contrast to Mood Candles with its minimalistic look to place emphasis on the zany character-driven situation. One highlight of the program is The Pubescent Panic of Peter Patterson, a comedy by Amy Allison and Brandon Hurd that allows the production designers to be creative with their assignment. It's also one of the few occasions where I thought an over-the-top narrative style worked in favour of a student film.

Considering how well filmmakers handled the material, I can’t wait to see what they can do when they’re given a bit more freedom in their third and final year of the program.

-Henry

Sheridan Filmmakers Celebrate a Year of Work

5/4/2015

Last week, Sheridan College rounded out their year-end screenings for the Media Arts and Bachelor of Film and Television programs. I checked out the work by students from all three years of the programs and was impressed by the skill on display, which only seems to grow as students spend more time at Sheridan and learn more about their craft.

All three screening nights took place at Oakville’s Film.ca Cinemas and the filmmakers’ excitement about seeing their work on the big screen was palpable. Backed by an audience full of friends, family, and faculty, the first-year students in the new Film and Television program (which has now replaced the Media Arts program) were first to show off their work. Their night mostly showcased two-minute scenes shot around campus. Many filmmakers tackled relationship issues that commonly face college students, including scenes about one-night stands, crushes, and quarrelling couples.

The second night of screenings offered short films from the second-year Media Arts students. The packed program included a variety of styles, including music videos, experimental films, and mock PSAs. Many of the night’s narrative films took a grim or satirical approach, including No News, directed by Luke Dante. His film was a darkly funny tale with a sprinkling of magical realism that turned out to be one of my favourites of the night. Meanwhile, the more broadly comedic Lost Sleep, a humorous take on a simple misunderstanding between roommates, testified to the fact that – when executed well – a simple premise can be powerful.

Last week’s third-year screening was similarly diverse, giving the students a chance to show off their capstone projects for the program. The longer run-times of the films highlighted the unique viewpoint all of the filmmakers developed during their studies. This was evident in films like Spoiler, directed by Sarah R. Thomson and Austin Birch, a madcap and inventive cautionary tale about our reliance on technology.

The Toronto Youth Shorts team has been busy checking out screenings around the GTA, and I was excited to get a taste of what local student filmmakers have been up to this year. The Sheridan filmmakers certainly didn’t disappoint.

- Colleen

Anna Explores the 2015 Toronto Student Film Festival

4/23/2015

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

Reflecting on the U of T Film Fest

3/31/2015

Yesterday the TYS team visited Hart House to attend the 13th Annual University of Toronto Film Fest, and saw 17 short films, as well as a few film installations housed in a separate room.   The films ranged from 40 seconds to 20 minutes long, and took many forms.  The night started off with a music video by Sean van Wert, set to the song "Angelitos Negros" by Victoria Falana, and ended with the Annual Farm Project 2014 - a 2-minute film created in 48 hours by the Hart House Film Board on a summer visit to the Hart House Farm.

One of the main trends we noticed was the reflective documentary.  The three films in particular along this theme, were: Loving Large directed by Theresa Bonello, Return to Narbutta Street directed by Ottie Lockey, and Gentle Giant directed by Fatan AlFaraj. Loving Large was a short doc that took us through the life of a woman who went through a drastic gastric band surgery, lost 150 lbs., and experienced issues managing her relationships as her appearance changed. The second in this group of films, was Return to Narbutta Street - a reflective, biographical piece which followed Eve Zaremba as she revisited her childhood home in Warsaw for the first time in 75 years.  This film touched on what it might be like to have to abandon your home during war, and how bittersweet it would be to return to a changed city. Gentle Giant directed by Fatan AlFaraj was a melancholy, yet hopeful look at a family marking the 9th anniversary of their husband and father's death.  This film acted as a video memorial to a much-loved family member, and was especially poignant because of the openness of the three family members, who didn't shy away from discussing the experience.

Overall, we were especially impressed with Satan's Dolls, a 20-minute epic about a con-woman who escapes the police by hiding in a convent.  Director Carlo Schefter included many callbacks to other horror films, and injected humour throughout, making this the film with the best audience response.  It was also the most stylistically unique and consistent.

In the coming weeks, our team will be visiting more film screenings and seeing what each school has to offer!

Our final submission deadline is May 1 - reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter with any questions or comments! We'd love to hear from you.

-Alex

Time for TAAFI and Student Shorts!

6/4/2014

Next Friday, June 13th, marks the beginning of the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (TAAFI), an event which is as sweet as its name! TAAFI celebrates the art of animation from all over the world. I am happy to say that I will be volunteering once again for TAAFI, especially since this year’s festival is holding many exciting events, including the Animation Arts Maarket, a screening of brand new Mickey Mouse Shorts, and an exclusive Q&A with the creators of Phineas and Furb!

The event I am most excited about is the Student Shorts showcase, which is being co-presented by Toronto Youth Shorts, and featuring animated shorts from across the globe, including Canada, Hungary and South Africa! This year’s line-up reflects the unique ability of animation to present the world from an endless array of perspectives, which cannot be portrayed as well through live action. For example, the film Amoeba (Bronwyn Horne) presents the isolation of a single-celled organism; Ramus (Danica Parry) follows a tree branch separated from its mother tree; and then there is Backwards Cat Goes to the Vet (Tanya Kozak) a strange phenomenon which can only be conveyed through animation!

So whether you are an avid animation fan, or are just looking for a new appreciation of this art form, check out Student Shorts on June 15th, 4:30 p.m. at George Brown College (Waterfront Campus). Visit the TAAFI website for the full line-up of Student Shorts. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the website for the full schedule of Screenings, Parties and Workshops!

-Julia

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