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Working with Youth: Junior Programmers and High School Films

7/25/2016

 
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This is my fourth year as a programmer for Toronto Youth Shorts, and each year, one of my main goals is to increase the number of participants from the high school level. I am very happy to say that we have received over 80 high school submissions from a variety of schools across Toronto and the Southern Ontario region, and we will be featuring 13 films made from those in high school at this year’s festival. As a youth film festival, it is important to us to feature films from this demographic and these impressive stats were made possible by a team of junior programmers, a newly initiative at Toronto Youth Shorts. 

Our inaugural team is consists of Carri Chen, Christian Gnam, Avondale Nixon, and Meryl Allysa Romo. I had the pleasure of working with these wonderful film buffs in soliciting and programming our high school submissions. Thanks to their dedication, from attending numerous screenings to composing exceptional film notes, we were able to acquire and program some of the best high school films in the region. While reviewing the submissions, I was very impressed with the level of sophistication that these high school filmmakers brought to the table. Wonderful writing, excellent comedic timing, beautiful costumes, and polished cinematography are only some of the great things you can expect from the high school films showcasing at the festival this year. It is inspiring to see the immense talent and drive that these young filmmakers have, which is why we want to showcase their work to our audiences. 

My favorite part of working with the Junior Programmers was gaining insight on the unique perspectives they provided on all the films, including the ones made from university or college film schools and community-based non-academic pieces. Each programmer shed light on a different aspect of their favorite shorts that allowed the rest of the team to appreciate upon second viewings of these films. The level of detail with which they analyzed each film, from character design and story to the technical aspects of film and their personal emotional responses to each piece, made for very  insightful programming discussions, and provided this year's festival with a well-rounded youth voice.

The Junior Programming team and I curated Expect the Unexpected and though the majority of the team are from high school, the program is anything but child-like. Films will touch on domestic violence, sexual abuse, racial tensions, stereotypes, and mental illness. Watching some of these films and choosing to program them for a youth audiences requires an innate sense of maturity and I must give kudos to the junior programming team for that. We chose these shorts because they use the power of film to express the unheard voices of society, and provide insight on these sensitive topics in ways that will resonate with the audience.  We're excited to share with you some of the best of the best films made by youth and we hope you will enjoy them as much as we did.

​-Julia

What a Year for Us Programmers!

7/21/2016

 
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After months of reviewing submissions, I must say that 2016 was eager to outdo 2015 in every way. Just from content alone, this year brought us more submissions than ever before. Even with the short run time of each piece, we would need more than a full 24 waking hours to sort through everything.

Contrary to what many may think, we do not begin programming with a specific theme in mind. We watch, we take notes, and move on to the next film. Once in a while, we come together and we discuss what we've seen. If at the end trends emerge, they are a surprise to us. Each year is different.

This year is an incredibly strong year for documentaries and animation especially, both of which we received in greater numbers. Several of our documentaries tackled diverse cultural and social issues that are both local and international in scope – from a man's fight for his community's access to water in Colombia, to the Canadian Sikh harassed and wrongfully accused to be one of the Paris bombers in the hullabaloo of #Gamergate, to the Bowmanville Zoo controversy right at home in Ontario after video surfaced showing them whipping their tiger. I was massively impressed by the sophistication with which these stories were approached, especially the intimate, soul-baring film of a woman speaking candidly about her sexual abuse in an experimental mix of memory and myth.

The animated films are always a delight and my favourite bunch to go through. I feel like I say it every year, but it's absolutely true that Toronto Youth Shorts receives extraordinarily good animation pieces that are rich in both art and storytelling. We’ve been spoiled.

The content is not the only difference this year. Here on the programming front, we  expanded our team with the addition of our Junior Programmers. Like us, they waded through hours and hours of content, went through what has been our largest submission yet from filmmakers under 18, attended several screenings of their peers, wrote pages and pages of notes (often by hand!), compiled their picks, and spent hours deliberating the selection to curate a program that represents the younger side of our youth demographic. Their voice and vision were an integral part of this year’s lineup.

Youth are increasingly growing up with an audience due to the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and livestreaming. The entry into experimenting with image and film comes early. Teens are now more than ever creating incredible award-worthy works that travel to film festivals around the world, and age is fast becoming insignificant as a determinant of quality. 

But don't take our word for it. Swing by on the first Saturday of August at Innis and we'll show you!

​-Sia

TYS Programmer Julia Shares Her Experience

7/22/2015

 
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This is my third year as a programmer for Toronto Youth Shorts, and at the risk of sounding cliche, I found this year’s films to be the best collection of shorts yet. The programming team and I were very happy to receive over 100 submissions, and we had a difficult time narrowing it down to just two programs. After much deliberating, we are excited to present this year’s line-up, as it offers a diverse range of genres, cultures and perspectives for the audience to enjoy.

When going through the submissions, I noticed that we received quite a few horror and sci-f- films this year. It’s great to see young filmmakers taking the risk of making films in these genres that are not always taken seriously. I was impressed with the sophistication that the filmmakers brought to these genres. For example the Korean Horror film Footprints, directed by Kevin Saychareun, tells a suspenseful story of family and guilt with a seamless blend of the supernatural and the real. The Sci-Fi short Dreaming is a Private Thing by AJ Smith presents a post-apocalyptic world from the unique point of view of a filmmaking robot; in this way, he shows the search for humanity within a futuristic society that any film buff would appreciate.

I was happy to see a good number of films showcasing different cultural backgrounds. FIlms such as Bosniak (directed by Kedj Kuqo) and Blue Eyed Drunks (directed by Abdul Malik)  tackle themes that everyone can relate to (survival and acceptance) against the backdrop of the Bosnian War, and from the perspective of Pakistani-Canadian teenagers respectively. With the majority of North American films giving actors of different ethnicities minor roles, it is refreshing to see these young filmmakers showcasing stories and talent from all over the world.

Finally, I was delighted to see many submissions that focused on strong female characters and contemporary gender issues. I am proud to present to our program Who We Are and its collection of films dedicated to empowering women. The documentaries A New Reflection (Pauline Beal & Lindsay Fontatine),  Being Tessa (Erin Harris), and Pretty Dangerous (Dan Laera) tell inspiring stories of young women overcoming physical differences and gender stereotypes to pursue their dreams. Phoebe’s Declassified Guide to Unwanted Pick Ups (Rebecca Gao), written and starring Degrassi’s Sara Waisglass, deals with the common issue of unwanted come-ons in a hilarious yet insightful way.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed programming this year’s festival, and can’t wait to share these wonderful films with you all!

-Julia

Paul Shares His Programming Highlights

7/15/2015

 
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First off, I'd like to extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone whose time, energy and talent went into our submissions. I had the pleasure of working with the Toronto Youth Shorts team in selecting this year's films and we were given an embarrassment of riches to choose from. I can't wait to share these films with everyone at the festival. Before we pull the curtain back on August 8, I'd like to tell you a bit about what went into the programming process.

In February, we put out our open call for shorts from under-30, GTA-based filmmakers—but our work was just getting started. Throughout the spring, TYS sent representatives to nearly every high school, college and university student film showcase around the GTA. For every one film submitted, we saw another three or four. Each event had such a large pool of content that were so strong, we were constantly regrouping to discuss it. We looked for common threads, overarching themes etc. In our downtime, we scoured Vimeo and Youtube, reaching out to young filmmakers outside the academic stream. Perhaps most importantly, the work done by TYS staffers in years past continued to pay off. Many of our submissions came from filmmakers whose work we've showcased or considered before, and the growing strength of the TYS reputation helped us reach new eyeballs.

One of the luxuries of programming a film festival in 2015 is that we didn't touch a single DVD, thanks to the wonders of online submission portals. Technology blessed us in other ways, as well: the ubiquity of HD cameras and professional editing software meant that the production values of our submissions often rivaled those of professional films, allowing filmmakers' talent and vision to come through that much more clearly. And, they certainly delivered on that potential. A number of the selections you'll see on August 8 are BIG films despite their length. From sci-fi epics to animation, the films showcase an incredible amount of ambition, both within and beyond familiar genres. On the human drama and documentary side, our selections for this year contribute meaningfully to some of the most important discourses in 2015. Spoiler alert: we think you'll find these films very relevant.

Lastly, a note about the filmmakers themselves: in a place as diverse as Toronto, it was important to us to present work from as many voices as possible. But, the filmmakers made that job easy. We have stories and perspectives from around the world and around the city, all with one thing in common: they're Toronto Youth Shorts. As for that celluloid ceiling? We think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

We can't wait to share these gems with you at the festival.

-Paul

Toronto Youth Shorts 2014 Sneak Peeks

9/8/2014

 
We'll be releasing our full lineup this Wednesday but here is a sneak preview of what's in store for the 2014 festival.

Criterion - directed by Dylan Vogel
An experimental film on with how restrictive our personal notions of failure and embarrassment can be.

Forever and Two Days - directed by Elene Mekete
After a not-so-recent breakup, Blayne's friends force her to go out with them on a Saturday night, promising an unforgettable weekend.

Frida and Dingwall Talk About Love - directed by Amika Cooper
Two creatures explore their relationship and reflect honestly on the connection they share. No fluff, no romance, just love.

Hit Me - directed by Alex Chung
A man is confronted and must fight for the woman he loves.

Jessie MacAlpine: A Story of Youth and Science - directed by Nicole Cedic
A young Canadian science prodigy has recently discovered an inexpensive treatment for Malaria that she has filed for patent.

Parked - directed by Myles Milne
After the death of their mother, two sisters struggle with the event in completely different ways.

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