New Teachers, New Films and New Opportunities in Film Production: Guest Blog by Christopher Lane
It’s summertime in the city and with the hot weather comes a multitude of productions being shot in and around the greater Toronto area. These include many television shows like American Gothic, Suits, Star Trek as well as the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon produced Incorporated. Be sure to check out www.toronto.ca and head to “Film in Toronto” to see the full list. Who knows, they just might need some helping hands!
We’d like to take the time to congratulate our graduates on their recent commencement this past May 5th. There were so many bright faces in attendance and our valedictorian Terryl Benoit gave an inspiring speech. Speaking of inspiring graduates, three of our recent graduates—Kyle Reaume, Carolyn Reznik, and Rafaela Scully just got awarded a $50,000 grant from Telefilm Canada for their pitch and package What About Shelley during the LGBT Film Festival. Congratulations to all our amazing grads!
This term we will be seeing a lot of new faces from all over the world both in students and in instructors. Recently I had the pleasure to meet with over a dozen international students from places like the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Fiji, United Kingdom, Korea and China who will be attending our school starting this term as well as all our other newcomers. As well we are lucky to have three new instructors—Vladimir Paskaljevic, Vince Chui and Rion Gonzales. Vlad will be heading up our Documentaries class.
Vlad brings a wealth of film experience including various television productions, including Sisters (2011) about human trafficking and the feature film Bitter Harvest (2011). His films have premiered worldwide and with honourable mentions at such festivals as Rotterdam IFF, Palm Springs IFF, Trieste Film Festival and Athens Panorama of European Films.
Second to our staff is Vince Chui, who’s amazing talents as an artist will blow you away. Vince will be teaching our Storyboards and Visual Storytelling course, in his previous position he worked on Full Auto (xbox 360), Full Auto 2: Battlelines (Playstation 3) and Cel Damage (Xbox, PS2). As well he spent time creating illustrations and concept artwork for various entertainment properties.
Last but not least is Rion Gonzales, our new Cinematography 2 and 3 instructor. Rion’s talents as a Cinematographer for over 20 years working with cutting edge technology and clients, will help the students grow and learn and his many credits include multiple commercial work as Director of Photography for major clients like Shoppers Drug Mart, Band Aid, Xenadrine, Nikon and Hydroxycut. Please take the time to make these incoming students and instructors feel welcome and part of the team.
The Toronto Film School Festival of Films is nearly upon us and I encourage anyone, no matter what term you are in, to submit a short film, commercial, music video, PSA or documentary for consideration. Top submissions will receive amazing prizes and the coveted statue! The festivities this year will occur on September 29, 2016 at the Cineplex VIP Theaters at 10 Dundas St. East. All are welcome to attend the screenings, but the awards ceremony will be invite only. If you wish to submit a film for consideration you can do so at www.FilmFreeway.com
As always stay focused, have fun and get in the picture!
Christopher Lane is an instructor in the Film Production Diploma Program at Toronto Film School. He is a writer, producer and director who has been working in the film industry for more than 20 years.
