Cap Film and Animation building

Cap Film and Animation building

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Filmmaker Gifts Under $50

The season is upon us … again.
And we are being asked, ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ Assuming that the people who ask are not willing to drop $1G, we have to tell them something specific. Since they know we’re into film, it would make them feel good knowing that they are buying something that interests us.
We also have to buy gifts for our film friends. What to buy that is affordable? (Emphasis on affordable.)
So here is the first annual Capilano blog Christmas gift list for under $50.

MovieSlate for $25

This digital version of the classic movie slate is also a clapper board, shot log, and notepad. The shot log is searchable, and the app can be remotely controlled via another iOS device. Simple iTunes card will do it.

Coffee Mug Lens
Your photographer friends will gasp in horror when they catch sight of this quirky Camera Lens Mug. At first glance it might seem that you've ripped apart a perfectly good telephoto lens, then filled it with your hot beverage of choice. Of course this type of heinous disregard for expensive photography equipment would be sacrilege... to a cup of good coffee. Available everywhere. 



Kogeto Dot Panoramic Video Accessory for Iphone 4/4S camera adapter.
Along with the Dot add-on lens, the Looker iPhone app is needed to shoot, de-warp and upload videos to Facebook, Twitter, and Kogeto.com.
The Dot shoots in panoramic mode, but the video looks like a swirling black hole until you de-warp it. Processing the video into watchable video takes a couple minutes. Dot shoots in 360 degrees but has a bit of an audio lag. Available at the Apple Store for approx $79 with the Looker app free to download. Okay, a little over the $50 budget.
Who would like this: Experimental filmmakers who like to try new styles of visual to enhance their stories.


+/OR

A Telescope 8x Zoom Telephoto lens and legs for an Iphone.





FILMMAKER Magazine Subscription 

This great quarterly magazine is on sale until Xmas — get one year for $10 or two years for $18. The digital subscription is just $6, which is a ridiculous bargain, especially considering magazine subscriptions make for great gifts: every time an issue shows up the recipient thinks of you. Plus the first 200 subscribers get a free copy of one of the other gifts on this list, and everyone’s entered into a drawing for other bonuses as well. FILMMAKER is an indispensable part of my life, and if you’re in (or want to be in) independent film it should be part of yours too. $6/$10/$18.



Memory Cards.
You can never have too many memory cards. Sometimes you just get lazy. Stay within the 8GB to 16GB range. For video, Class 10 is recommended, though Class 6 will be OK if you want to save money. Get as big a card as fits your budget. 



Gorillapod Video Tripod 
Allows you to attach small cameras to almost anything using the flexible but strong legs, but it has a pan/tilt head with a handle. $20.



Lens brush and pen.
Modestly priced at $8. Anybody on the receiving end of this gift is bound to get their money’s worth. With a brush at one end and a carbon fiber tip at the other, it’s a powerful lens cleaning tool crammed into a handy pen size container.
Perfect for lenses and also any delicate glass like filters, monitors, and more. You could even buy two to have one as a backup.
Itunes gift cards.



Make a T-shirt or Business cards.

 


"The Converstaions” Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film

The Conversations is a treasure, essential for any lover or student of film, and a rare, intimate glimpse into the worlds of two accomplished artists who share a great passion for film and storytelling, and whose knowledge and love of the crafts of writing and film shine through.



 What do you suggest? Share a link.

Thursday 7 November 2013

Cap Students take Best Student Production at Leo Awards


Last spring Jon Anctil and Malcolm Oliver took 'Best Student Production' at the 2013 Leo Awards, an awards gala that acknowledges achievements in filmmaking in British Columbia. Cap faculty and students are regularly nominated and win in a variety of categories. Dianne Neufeld was one of the founding members of the award and has received a Lifetime Achievement Leo.

Here is an interview conducted with Jon about his experience:

Cap: Award aside, what is the value to participating or submitting your film to the Leo's?

Jon: It’s said that it’s always an honour just to be nominated, let alone win, and so I felt greatly honoured to be awarded the Leo for Best Student Production for “Marathon”, along with my producer Malcolm Oliver. But what makes the Leo Awards extra special is that everyone involved (organizers, jurors, nominees) are all a part of this great BC film community we have here, and so a nomination is a validation not from some anonymous, distant jury but from your friends, co-workers, peers, and mentors. To be selected and honoured by these people is an incredibly wonderful and humbling experience. 

Cap: You could use some humility, the way you carry that trophy around with you. But credit to you because your project was ambitious. I doubt the Leo Awards have ever had a 3D submission for Best Student Production.

Jon: I'm extremely proud of “Marathon." But it was a race to the finish. It was part of many firsts for myself and the Film Centre. It was the first year of the 4 year Bachelor of Motion Picture Arts degree, the first year in the new Nat and Flora Bosa Film building, the first student stereoscopic 3D film done at Cap, my first science fiction film, and my first film with a significant number of visual effects. The 3D hardware and software was so new that we were often figuring things out as we went - there simply wasn’t any precedent to follow. The entire process was probably a three way split between research, practice, and crossed fingers. After shooting in 3D, I had to edit in 3D, then do the visual effects in 3D. Adding the extra dimension isn’t double the work, as you’d guess, but more like 10 times the work. But in the end, I think it’s fair to say that all the effort was worth it.

Cap: You get to keep the trophy but I'm sure that you want to thank people. Go ahead, name names.

Jon: None of it would have been possible if it weren’t for the tireless support and encouragement of all the staff and faculty at the Film Centre. It’s very hard to make a good short film, let alone a good 3D short film, and honestly there were a few moments where I debated pulling the plug, but there was always someone to give me a friendly kick in the butt to keep moving, or some helpful advice to get around yet another technical hurdle. I’d like to say a special thanks to James Wallace, Julian Bruce, and Tim Laks for their technical support and expertise with the 3D camera systems and post production, and Bill Thumm and Murray Stiller for their undying support and encouragement, as well as their reminders that as neat as the technology is, the heart and story have to come first.

Cap: Nice. Now they'll hit you up to do 3D seminars. You know how they can be. So when they do, what lesson will you pass on to future student projects?

Jon: Looking back, the most important lesson I take away from this whole experience is that you should always strive to push beyond your boundaries and take advantage of new challenges, no matter what you think the outcome might be. I definitely bit off more than I could chew with this project, and when I decided to shoot 3D, I had no idea how to actually do that. But I was staring at a studio full of 3D equipment and figured, “Well, it’s here. What’s the worst that could happen?” And instead of ending with the worst outcome, I wound up with one of the best.

Cap: Thanks Jon. Now put that trophy away. You're going to poke someone in the eye with it.


Tuesday 29 October 2013


Animation Screening Nov. 1
Hosted at Bosa Theatre
 DigiBC is proud to bring you: The Animation Show of Shows.
The Animation Show of Shows is a traveling selection of the years best animation short films, curated and presented by Ron Diamond, founder of Acme Filmworks.
The show's mission is to bring exciting, groundbreaking animated short films to big screens around the world. In it's 15th year, the tour will stop in Vancouver - hosted at Capilano University's Bosa Centre for Film and Animation. 

Student Screening @ 5PM, Nov. 1

Industry screening @ 7PM, Nov. 1

Event sponsore: Annex Pro, Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, and Capilano University.

Monday 14 October 2013

The Making of 'Taking My Parents to Burning Man' - A Capilano Student Journey




Guest post by Joel McCarthy

Kick-Started
In my last/fourth year in the Motion Picture Program at Capilano University my class had to focus on making development projects, most of which were developing feature films and web series.  My good friend, Bryant Boesen, (an eccentric free spirited individual whom I’ve partnered on a ton of projects) approached me and told me he wanted to develop a documentary about taking his parents to Burning Man and asked if I wanted to produce and DP the project. 
I loved the idea of the project, but in all honesty I didn’t think it would materialize when I optimistically responded.  Next thing you know, Bryant’s Parents were on bored, and we were making a Kickstarter pitch video (they also didn’t believe it would end up happening.) On the morning of April 27th, 2012 we launched our Kickstarter Campaign asking for $10,000. It was two days after me and Bryant finished our last day of film school and we were already blitzing all of our family and friends on Facebook and Twitter with our campaign.
Later that same day I drove to Seattle for a film festival which my Capilano 3rd year film “Why Does God Hate Me” played in.  The campaign had been live for about five hours when I checked into my hotel room and decided to quickly see how our campaign was going.  I logged on to Kickstarter and to my surprise we already were at $2,200 and were just hours into our campaign.  My jaw dropped and not caring about the long distance minutes, I called Bryant and I distinctly remember him picking up the phone and saying, “I guess we are going to Burning Man.”  That was the day I was certain that this would happen, and to make it official, I announced during the Q&A of my film to a room of 800 people that I was going to Burning Man in two months to shoot my first feature.

Green-lit(ish)
When I came back from Seattle we jumped right into prep.  We kept pushing the campaign pretty hard. We even had a big party fundraiser and raised over a thousand dollars for the project. We were flying towards our Kickstarter goal.  On June 25, 2012 the campaign was over. We had $10,371 and 176 backers on Kickstarter. At that point we were already prepping and shooting scenes of us going costume shopping and interviews about our expectations.
We instantly got an RV secured from a kind stranger, which seemed too good to be true (later we would find out it was), and I had researched everything I could find on photography and videography at Burning Man.  It is not a film friendly location; there are dust storms that happen about every hour our of the day, the location is famous for overheating cameras, and once again there are freaking dust storms that happen every hour of the day!
We decided after extensive research that we were going to shoot on Canon 5d MKII DSLR, with L series lenses, which are advertised as weather proofed.  Also the 5D’s overheat a lot less than the 7D’s.  We hadn’t received our Kickstarter money yet but at two weeks before the production I had maxed out two credit cards and spent all of my savings getting tickets and equipment.

Kick Stopped
Unfortunately, what I didn’t know at the time was Bryant was secretly fighting a battle with Kickstarter, trying to get the funds.  Kickstarter, at the time, was only for Americans and we figured with Bryant being a duel citizen that this wouldn’t be a problem.  Unfortunately Kickstarter and Amazon payments wouldn’t pay us, and every time we tried to find a solution they would just point the finger at each other. We tried to find the solution, days away from not being able to access donations from Kickstarter.  We were told the only way we could get them were to get Bryant an American passport or drivers license.  Bryant, at the time, had never driven a car, so it seemed a bit far-fetched to bet it all on him getting his license first try. Plus we needed a permanent residence for him in the USA.  As for the passport, they wouldn’t let us rush a non-resident’s first American passports, and our odds were very low at getting it in time.  We were stuck in a really terrible situation and I was taking the biggest blow financially. 
Five days before we were to leave for the trip I sat down with Bryant and Li (Bryant’s mom) and talked about our options. After much debate we decided to start a new campaign on indiegogo and attempt to get A) more press, B) all our donators to re-donate, and C) possibly more money. So we quickly ran into the backyard, shot an intro to our indiegogo video with our shiny new Canon 5DMk II and slapped that onto the front of our Kickstarter video and launched it right away.

We got on the phones that night and started calling every one of our backers who had added a phone number to their donation and plead to have them re-donate.  Some did, some didn’t, some donated more, some less, but things were starting to look up. Or so we thought.
Transportation issue
During the same week we were “Kick-stopped” we were also immobilized in two ways. Li (Bryant’s Mom) broke her ankle just days before the trip and we lost our RV; the random guy that promised us the RV had second thoughts and dropped out at the last minute. We had no money, no car, terrible luck and I was sleep deprived from the stress of this endeavor.   We started calling everyone on craigslist with an RV, asking if we could rent it for a week.  We even knocked on people’s doors with RV’s parked outside of them. But we had no luck.  Then two days before we left our luck turned around big time.
Things are looking up!
We were at $4,000 on Indiegogo with 2 days before we were going to leave for Burning Man.  I was flat broke hoping my last gas tank would get me through prep and we wouldn’t be able to touch our indiegogo money right away.  I got a phone call from the head of the film department at Capilano University, Bill Thumm.  At this point I was a sleep deprived, scatterbrained mess, but trying my best to play it cool because I didn’t want him to know that the first round of degree grads from Cap were already falling on their faces.  He asked me what happened with Kickstarter, I explained the dilemma, and he calmly responded, “Okay, let me make some phone calls.” I didn’t know what that meant and I didn’t want to get my hopes up.  After about an hour or two (which seemed like 10 hours) I got a phone call back from him telling me to come to the school and pick up a check for the remaining balance of our indiegogo campaign; I started to tear up. Hopefully Bill didn’t notice. I was extremely touched to know that my school believed in our project and the gesture got me really fired up to make this movie.
We also got a message from a stranger from Eastern United States message asking if we wanted him to deliver a 14-foot crane for free; it seemed like things were starting to look up.
Now all we needed was a vehicle. I posted plea’s on Facebook and Twitter, RV rental places were fully booked up or wouldn’t allow their vehicles to go to Burning Man (because the desert and heat is extremely harsh on RV’s and cars) and we were running out of time.
Then another miracle happened.  In writing class you are always told that you can’t solve your problems with a “Deus ex Machina” (a god like device ie: Magic, or a phone call that solves everything). But out of the blue we got another phone call, this one was from someone who had no idea we were even scrambling.  Henry is an obnoxious party animal Australian.  At the time him and Bryant were just acquaintances but he was calling to tell us that he just bought a 40ft school bus and needed to fill it with people for a trip to Burning man. Keep in mind this was at 9pm two days before the trip. Bryant turned to me and said, “So my friend just bought a green 40 foot school bus and he needs more bodies for his trip to Burning Man. Should we join them?” Without hesitation I said “Get us on that bus. That’s good TV.”

Getting to Burning Man
The ride to Burning Man would have been amazing if I wasn’t a time efficiency freak.  The bus could only do 40mph maximum (most of the speed limits were 70mph) and the group of people we were with didn’t know how to do a five-minute pit stop. Every time we stopped it turned into a 45-minute or longer ordeal.  I couldn’t believe how inefficient these guys we were traveling with were. One morning we spent 3 hours at a Walmart. We would go in to buy supplies, then we would get to the vehicle and someone would say, “No way you bought I Bike. I want a bike now.” And then it was water. And then it was alcohol, etc. That being said, the bus ride was never dull and it made for great documentary set pieces. We arrived at Burning Man over 24 hours later than planned.
At Burning Man
We arrived at Burning Man in the middle of a dust storm heavy night.  We found some empty space to camp that was next to a row of outhouses on a plot reserved for a group called “The Tuna Guys camp”, which are a group of 60-year-old Oregon fisherman who serve free tuna at Burning Man. We were exhausted and tired and needed to settle in somewhere, so Bryant went up to the leader of the Tuna Guys (Neutron) and asked if they had any extra space. We thought they were going to say “No”, but one of the Tuna guys piped up; “Hey, I saw you on the Kickstarter!”  Turns out they all knew about the documentary and let us camp with them.
While everyone went to sleep, Bryant told me to leave the camera and come for a walk. We walked to the center of the Playa to ‘the Man,’ the iconic structure of Burning Man, and climbed to the top it. At that moment I realized this is actually happening. That was the moment where I fully digested what we were doing.
The shooting went well. It was difficult at times to motivate a crew because it was like telling children at Disneyland that they can’t go on any rides.  That being said, I am really happy with the footage we got. I am not going to ruin any of the surprises of the Playa, but I will mention that we did manage to get some amazing Aerial shots for the price of one Cuban cigar.
Post Production update:
The film is near picture lock and we hope to be finished the film in November in time to submit to South by Southwest. It has been a difficult process in the edit, we had a ton of footage, and at numerous points we had to prioritize paid-work to keep pay our bills during the editing stage.  That said, it is shaping up to be a fun, entertaining film and I can’t wait to show the public soon. Hopefully we will have a screening at Cap!

Tuesday 1 October 2013


Jacqueline Jordan
October 13, 1965 – September 18, 2013.

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our lovely daughter, wife, sister, mother and friend, Jacqueline Alana Jordan. Jackie was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2010 and carried on with grace, fortitude, and the utmost dedication to her family and community. Jackie grew up in Calgary and moved to Vancouver to attend the University of British Columbia. She obtained a Bachelor's degree along with building her talents in the film industry, becoming 1st Assistant Director on several series, movies and commercials across Canada and overseas. In 2001 Jackie worked at the Directors Guild of Canada, later taking on an instructing role in Film Studies at Capilano University. In 2004 Jacqueline and Quincy welcomed the joy of their lives, Alana. Raising Alana, along with their beloved dogs Emma and then Lou Lou, provided them with an abundance of love, joy and laughter. Jackie loved books, music, cooking, playing and teaching piano, gardening, and above all, being a mother. Jackie will be greatly missed by her husband, Quincy Mittertreiner and daughter, Alana, of Vancouver, B.C.; her mother, Helen Milton of Calgary; siblings Pam Ediger (Harry), Jim Jordan (Sarah), and Jennifer Milton-Reinbold (Greg) of Calgary; father-in-law Ton Mittertreiner of Canmore, AB; brother-in-law Phil Mittertreiner (Jan) of Calgary; and sister-in-law Doreen (Bruce) of Texas; her step mother Karen Jordan of Calgary; and many nieces and nephews. Jacqueline was predeceased by her father George Jordan. Jackie's compassion, strength, and spirit will live on in our hearts forever. The absolute kindness and gracious support of family, friends and the Carnarvon community throughout Jackie's illness will never be forgotten. The family is also deeply grateful for the overwhelming care and compassion of BC Cancer's support and hospital staff.

Published in Vancouver Sun and/or The Province from September 28 to September 29, 2013

Thursday 26 September 2013

Capilano University Animation in Jamaica




Last summer two Animation teachers (Don Perro and Adam Sales) went to Jamaica to teach animation. Jamaica? We had to find out more. Here is the conversation:

What were you teaching in Jamaica? Who hired you and why did they choose you?

The class was made up of people who were: art students, teachers and a couple working animators.  We taught animation basics....really just a brief introduction.  We worked in Adobe Flash for the most part and Adam did some lectures with Softimage XSI (3D animation).  We were introduced to the World Bank by the trade commissioner for Canada in Jamaica.  The World Bank invited us down due to our history of international development of animation programs (we have set up programs in China, Malaysia and Mexico).

What was the purpose of teaching animation in Kingston?

The World Bank wants to encourage animation as and industry in Jamaica to create employment opportunities for youth.  They also want to increase awareness of gender violence issues and promote change. They worked with the Canadian Trade Commission and produced an animation festival and conference called KINGSTOONS 2013 that ran the weekend before our workshop and which was a huge success. That event alone created a huge interest in animation among government, educators and the public (4000 Facebook "likes" in a few weeks) https://www.facebook.com/kingstoonfest

Why is Jamaica becoming the next center for animation in the world?

Well, we don't know if Jamaica will be the next center for animation yet....there is interest and the government is currently investing in some training programs. One studio that was involved seems to have signed an international deal. http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads/34963 Many people think Jamaica has great potential.  They have an English-speaking population with a western culture.  They are involved with the creative arts such as drawing and music.  There is no or little difference in the time zone.  The government is pro-animation and pro-business. And of course, comparatively lower labour costs would play a part.

I blogged the trip. 


Below is the blog of Fabio Pittaluga, World Bank Senior Social Development Specialist for Latin America and Caribbean. We worked with him to get this all set up. 

Saturday 21 September 2013


This is a guest blog post from Capilano 4th year film student, Nigel Edwards, whose short film screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.

The TIFF Guide for First Time Festival Goer’s



This year I had the amazing privilege to attend the 2013 Toronto International Film
Festival with a short film I produced early last year. Foreclosure is a comedy about a guy who
was haunted by naked people in the office. The protagonist is promised a hefty promotion by the
end of the day if he can complete a dossier by 5:00pm, but is thwarted by his colleagues when
they all become naked. The film initially began as a Crazy8‘s project here in Vancouver and after
almost making it to the final stage before being green lit, Wayne Robinson (writer/director) and I
decided to make the film anyways. After workshopping the script with a CBC story editor,
Dennis Heaton, Wayne was eager to get rolling on the project. After many debates we decided to
take our time with the project and get the right people on board. I enlisted the help of another
Capilano film student, Tom Hackett, to help co-produce the film as well a large plethora of other
Capilano students and alumni to crew the film.

To try and explain the festival in a few words simply wouldn’t do it justice. Asides from
having a film there, which proved to be very beneficial when meeting with people, the
conferences, connections, and films were amazing. Leading up the festival, you receive
numerous emails from TIFF about RSVP’s, meetings, etc, and you become so familiar with
names that when you finally meet them in person, they actually remember you. It was
completely worth it to be there in person for our film. A typical conversation, usually taking
place at one of the many ‘happy hours’, went something like this:

So what are you doing here at the festival?
“I produced a short film in the Short Cuts Canada program...”

There were many great moments at the festival, but for the sake of this piece, I will try
and contain them to producing type stuff all under a PG rating. One of the best takeaways
stemmed from an email intro that one of my professors initiated with the people from the
National Screen Institute. After a couple quick emails, we set a time to meet up later in the week.
I was surprised they had time at all as people’s schedules fill up quick during the festival. We
ended up meeting at the Fairmont Hotel just before lunch. After doing a quick Google search to
figure out what they looked like (always know what they look like them before hand), we ended
up talking with them for over an hour and a half. We talked about all kinds of different stuff, but
the secret was that we didn’t ask them redundant questions about the program that we could have
learned from their website. After a few coffees, we picked up the bill (if you can afford it, always
be proactive and pick up the bill) and were on our way out, when the two lovely ladies openly
admitted how refreshing it was to meet with people that were interested in talking to them,
asking questions about what NSI wanted, etc. We were the only people that got in contact with
them. Another trick that stemmed from this meeting was to play off our strengths: one director,
and two producers. We were constantly spinning off each other’s questions leaving no room for
awkward silence.

Looking back there are many things that I would do differently but overall everything
happened the way it should for first time festival goers. Ever since I started in film I’ve had
business cards. I was always told to have a slick card that ‘felt’ a little different. Unfortunately
my card was so slick that you couldn’t write on it with anything except a sharpie, which no one
carries. Clean and simple business cards are essential because besides the face to face interaction,
your card is how they remember you.

Luckily Tom and I were told this way before leaving Vancouver but the festival is not
about the films. Unfortunately for our director, who is a massive cinephile, didn’t realize till later
on that TIFF is a hub for amazing conferences that you’d never see if you were stargazing on the
red carpet, or attending your fourth or fifth film of the day. For first time “festies” it is crucial
that you attend all the conferences you can and squeeze in a film here and there. By the end of
the fourth or fifth day of conferences we had TIFF Industry Programmers commend us on our
commitment to attending almost everything. You don’t get that respect by sleeping in or catching
the latest Denis Villeneuve flick (which I heard was great).

In trying to summarize all the amazing lessons I’ve learnt over the past two weeks, I’ve
come up with three main recommendations for other filmmakers:

1. Be respectful of people’s time.
The festival goes so quick that everyone is usually booked solid. Be courteous of people’s time
and if doesn’t work out, don’t worry about it. Don’t force yourself on people. Set up a meeting
with them well in advance. If you happen to run into them, approaching groups of three is way
easier than groups of two. That way there is always someone who isn’t talking and can be your in
to a conversation.

2. Have something that sets you apart from everyone else.
Fortunately for us we had a great calling card before coming to the festival. In a movie where
there is only male nudity, we could easily be remembered as “the naked guys”. Before leaving
we managed to print 100 postcards with a provocative screenshot from the film that really caught
the eye, as well as the screening information on the back. We handed them out to everyone and
not surprisingly it proved to be a nice lead into some interesting conversations. We also did a
photo series leading up to the world premiere of our film. I would Instagram a semi-nude photo
of one of the cast or the director, doing common things around the house: drinking coffee,
reading a book, playing Dance Dance Revolution, etc. The director would then Tweet the photo
with a caption like “7 DAYS TILL FORECLOSURE”, and the appropriate hashtag that we made
for ourselves. The staple hashtags were #foreclosure, #nakedorbreakit, and #justtheTIFF. From
here we would invite our friends on FB and Twitter to follow our photo series and in turn
generate hype for the film. We ended up having some TIFF programmers retweet most of the
photos expanding our social network ever farther.

3. Do your homework.
Know who you want to talk to before you show up, and be realistic about it. You can’t assume
that you’ll meet George Clooney and have him cast in your next film. It doesn’t work that way.
For me one of the goals I set was to befriend like-minded filmmakers who were at the same level
or just above me. I made several friends like that of whom I will keep it contact with over the
years, even if it’s just to keep updated on projects. With regards to the conferences, some of the
material will seem way beyond your years as a professional filmmaker, however it’s beneficial to
sit there and listen. You’re going to have to deal with these people eventually, so it’s good to
know what they do. Failing all that, having an idea of where you want to go next is important.
“What’s next for you?” people will say and you should know. For me, I’m very passionate about
attending the Canadian Film Centre after I graduate, so building those relationships was crucial
in my festival experience.

I’m very happy and grateful that I had to opportunity to attend TIFF this year. It has been
both a rewarding and inspiring experience for me. As I finish my undergrad this year, I’m hoping
to bring that same enthusiasm as I push the development of my first feature. As for missing the
first two weeks of school, TIFF is one of the largest film festivals in the world, you’d be foolish
not to attend.
//NE