I attended two screenings hosted by Humber College's Film and Television Production program: the Graduate Film Showcase consisting of shorts, documentaries, and PSAs created by their final year students; and their Portfolio Screening featuring work produced in collaboration with the college's Acting for Film and Television Students. As usual, I am impressed with the calibre of talent that goes into these productions.

I thought the shorts that worked best this year came from directors who trusted their actors and gave them proper breathing room to flesh out the stories. Toronto Youth Shorts alumni, Jevon Boreland, created one such example in To Kill A Secret, starring Mark Taylor of Flashpoint and Student Bodies fame. The short doesn't explore new territory narratively but audiences are drawn into this world because of the strong performances, which also includes those by Glenn Cashin and Melissa Cultraro. Same can be said about Zac Pinto-Lobo's Where Monsters Live, a short that again doesn't tread any new waters and potentially could've been very hammy but it works because of its cast, in particular child actor Jonah Vogel. Stephanie Brister carries What Memories Hold directed by Ryan Doyle with a performance that make audiences empathetic and frustrated at the same time. 

I was even more impressed overall with the slate of Portfolio Screening films. Despite bigger constraints that included a limited run time (everything is under 8 minutes), a max of only two days to shoot, and must feature students in lead roles so they couldn't rely on experienced ACTRA performers to take the reign, the end result worked for the most part. Writer and actor, Robert Ryan Reyes, showed off his physical comedic chops in the hilarious Landed Citizen by Lara Cordiano. Matt Takatsch's Oscar did very well in creating atmosphere and building tension, scaring the theatre audiences to a point where many of them were screaming. Diego Perez Del Rio enhanced Simone DaSilva's wordless performance with his score in Staccato, which he also directed.

With an industry that is trying to more and more to satiate a young audience with over the top action pieces, it's nice to see the next generation of filmmaking talent recognize the small moments that can be cinematically compelling. 

​-Henry

This is my 8th year being on the jury for the Zoom Student Film Festival, which makes me the longest standing juror (unless someone proves me otherwise) for this event held at Earl Haig Secondary for the past 23 years. Every year I get asked by the current slate of students producing the event and despite the age gap between myself and the filmmakers growing each passing year, I love being a part of it. It's where I discover gems like Phoebe's Declassified Guide To Unwanted Pickups along with some great talent like Kassy Gascho, Max Shoham, Dylan Vogel, just to name a few.

Each year, the jury has to decide on some awards such as Best Director, Most Promising Filmmaker (one each for junior and senior grades), and so forth with a lot of contenders in the major categories. It was great to see Max Shoham receive Best Animation for Hearth, which is a strong contrast narratively and stylistically to his other piece, The Giant and the Moon, also featured at Zoom. Max Freeman is barely through halfway his high school journey but he made the audience laugh with his punchline piece, Survival.

The heavy hitter of the night goes to Cole London's My Fair Robot, picking up Best Cinematography, Best Picture, and Audience Choice for being a charming, hilarious, and one of the few well-produced shorts that featured a traditional story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Not everyone could make it out to North York on a week night to take in a high school screening of student films but if any of the above titles interest you, keep your eyes peeled because you never know what could end up screening at Toronto Youth Shorts 2019.

-Henry

*still from My Fair Robot by Cole London

TIFF is running a campaign called Share Her Journey to promote equal opportunities for women. This campaign celebrates successful and inspirational women behind and in front of the camera and is joined by a number of talented women in the industry as Ambassadors, including the Oscar-nominated Deepa Mehta, award-winning filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal, and Toronto Youth Shorts award winner Carol Nguyen (This House is Not Empty, TYS2016). Carol has screened her film at Toronto Youth Shorts and a number of TIFF initiatives as well as numerous festivals across the country. We're so excited that Carol can take part in such a meaningful project.


Visit www.tiff.net/shareherjourney for more info.

TYS2015 alumni, Hanna Jovin (animator for White Lines), is directing Erika, a short fiction film based on the true story of Sidika Delić Hadzihasanovic. It is set in the 1940’s, during the Nazi occupation of the city of Bihać, in Bosnia. The story follows two young girls, Sidika Delić and Erika Richter, as they develop a lasting friendship, despite being on opposite sides of war. Erika is written by two-time Toronto Youth Shorts award winner, Jessie Posthumus. If their past collaborations are any indication on the quality of their work, then Erika is definitely something we're excited to see in the near future. Support the film and get updates on the production through their Kickstarter campaign.

Toronto Youth Shorts alumni, Tanya Hoshi and Priscilla Galvez (Biggie's Garage, TYS2014), are producing a web series called How to Buy a Baby.

The series follow thirty-something couple, Jane and Charlie Levy, who have long given up on having a baby the fun way. Having been diagnosed with infertility, they are resigned to needing costly and invasive assistance if they are ever to become parents. They are determined, though, to keep things fertiliFUN and not lose sight of the reasons why they wanted to have a baby together in the first place. But what happens to a couple when so many people are involved in the intimate act of procreation? Can a marriage survive and thrive with the financial and emotional pressures of infertility? How much will two people sacrifice to make a new life? 

Outrageous, real and darkly funny, How to Buy a Baby is competing for funding from the Independent Production Fund to complete the 14 episode series.

Read more about How to Buy a Baby at https://www.facebook.com/howtobuyababy

In our festival's initial years, Lena Chun received awards and honourable mentions from the jury for her animated films Death of a Puppet, Folding City, To the Moon, and Beauty Queen.  Since then she has worked for Cineflix as a Motions Graphic Designer, animating logos and titles for various TV programs. She now lives in London where she met her fiancee and works for Amazon Instant Video, a streaming service by Amazon, as a UX / UI motion designer creating promotional videos and motion demos for new features. Lena also supports UX designers on the Amazon team, doing research and motion study to make services better and richer for the customer experience on their mobile app and TV app design.

Stay tuned for more updates on past Toronto Youth Shorts winners!