Spring Brings a Long List of Achievements in Film Production | Guest Blog by Christopher Lane
It’s springtime and with spring comes new possibilities, warmer weather and a renewed energy around the campus. There isn’t a better time to be exploring, learning and shooting in the great city of Toronto.
Spring also brings an opportunity for our students to spread their wings and venture out on their own as the alumni of the past year will be having their commencement on May 5.
Staff, faculty and students at Toronto Film School want to wish our grads congratulations and the best of luck in their future endeavors and also want to let you know that our doors are always open and let us know what you’ve been up to. We’d also like to welcome our new and returning students. Please make time to make our new friends welcome and part of the mix.
A few of the many faculty members, students and grad successes include instructor Michael Paszt of Raven Banner Entertainments’ with the launch of new arm Northern Banner Entertainment. Northern Banner’s freshly released, Embrace of the Serpent, was recently nominated for an Academy Award and the film also garnered rave reviews from around the world.
In other Oscar news Dusty Mancinelli’s short film Winter Hymns recently was awarded the prestigious Golden Egg Award at the Reyja Film Festival in Iceland as well it received the Grand Jury prize at Slamdance which qualifies the film for Oscar consideration.
Jordan Walker’s feature film How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town has had a successful launch and has been picked up for wide distribution.
Current student, Zahra Faraji’s short film Donya was recently programmed at the Toronto Short Film Festival and the Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival where she was one of the official winners at the festival.
Student Rafaela Galindo’s and fellow Toronto Film School students short documentary Will to Dance won best short doc at The Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival as well as placing in the top 10 judges list in “adult regional” category at the Bluenose-Ability Film Festival (BAFF).
Graduates continue to make their mark on the scene with projects both domestic and international including ad campaigns, music videos, documentaries, feature films and shorts. Alumni Lawrence Adjei and Godfred Adjei (by the way no relation, although they met here at the Toronto Film School ) are currently in Ghana to shoot a feature film, several music videos, and commercials in collaboration with the Ghana Film Commission. This is coming off a successful run of music videos with Mad Ruk, the biggest music video production house in Toronto which is responsible for such massive videos including Hotline Bling.
On a personal note, I was fortunate enough to be involved in a feature horror film Beyond Hell with several graduates of Toronto Film School with several current students filling out the crew. Some recent Toronto Film School Acting for Film, Television & Theatre graduates and students even appear in the film. The gang is currently toiling away in post-production.
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.
