Local talent hit the big screen at Innis Town Hall on March 4^th, 2015, at the Filmmaking Competition, an inaugural film festival hosted by the Cinema Studies Student Union (CINSSU) and Raindance on Campus (RoC). The awards were organized by Ryan Winter, filmmaking liaison at CINSSU, and Eimi Harris, President of RoC, who both facilitated the screening of 29 student short films. Filmmakers Simon Chi, Sina Dolati and Marko Cvijetinovic had several pieces from their oeuvre presented, all of which were pre-rated by a jury made up of a combination of faculty, PhD candidates, and student representatives in the Cinema Studies Institute.

Seven of these films were in the 5×5 category, each implementing a quintet of five-second shots. Many of the microfilms were dream sequences, while others explored the complicated relationship between humans and technology. The winner of the 5×5 award was Saturday, a flick about a student’s frantic rush to class, only for him to realize it was the weekend.

The other 22 shorts spanned several genres and styles. Back to Reality (Marko Cvijetinovic) is a campy, lo-fi animation/live action hybrid that was originally a high school project, while Unrecognized (Helen Shen) is a heart-warming, technically astute film that was featured at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival. Films like Edge (Sina Dolati) and Amore non mio e neanchetuo/Love not yours not mine (Matthew Griffith and Giulia Menechella) opted to skip the dialogue and use compelling visuals and music to create experimental, emotionally captivating narratives. All of the films had admirable qualities, but only three exceptional shorts were recognized for awards.

In third place was Wren (Simon Chi), which tells the story of a young girl who fights her mental demons, stumbles upon and then loses love, ultimately finding happiness. The runner up, The Invitation (Shaq Hosein, Mubashir Baweja & Mahmoud Sarouji), is a tale of an antisocial teen who receives a mysterious letter in the mail; the events thereafter are chopped and changed by a tandem of enthusiastic narrators. Dead of Winter (Jared Beckstead & Syndi Li Walton) earned first place and the Audience Choice Award. It displays the experiences of two boys who each encounter a zombie in an abandoned warehouse. Their run-ins with the undead end up illuminating the vast spectrum of emotions a human can face when in crisis.

The event filled most of the newly renovated Town Hall, and considering the impressive quality of films and the overwhelmingly positive response from the audience, I can only hope that this Filmmaking Competition Awards Ceremony will not be the last.

Featured image courtesy of CINSSU and Raindance on Campus