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Celluloid dreams

A black-and-white gangster film straight out of the 1940s (La Notte Infinita), a poignant documentary about a mother's fight with breast cancer (Mine is the Sky) and a narrative film about a middle-aged couple attending their first orgy (The First-Timers) are among the varied entries at the 2006 Toronto Film School Festival of Film.

LAUREN BRESLIN

[ 2006-02-08 ]

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The annual festival returns to the Glenn Gould studio on Feb. 10 for its fourth and largest event to date. Students and graduates from the Toronto Film School, part of the International Academy of Design and Technology -- or simply "the Academy" -- will compete for awards in the following categories: best film, director, actor, screenplay, editing, cinematography, sound, animation, animation art direction and documentary.

35 FINALISTS

"It's a celebration of the students' work, and a chance for them to see their films on the big screen," explains John Foote, director of the Toronto Film School. "It's also a chance for the rest of the college to see what the film students have been up to."

Student film submissions have more than tripled since the festival began. This year there were 105 entries, but only 35 films found their way past a panel of professors, who rated them on their artistic and technical merit.

The films cannot exceed 18 minutes in length, and they'll run the gamut of genres, from narratives to documentary, music videos and animation.

"The kids are given complete freedom to make whatever films they want, barring pornography of course," Foote says. "Last year we had a Western film which ended up winning best picture. When we screened it, people's jaws hit the ground -- it was just unbelievable what these kids had done."

The film he's talking about, called A Cold Day to Die, was the work of Matthew Duffy, who has since graduated from the school's film and editing programs. It tells the story of two villains who've kidnapped a young girl and are being pursued by bounty hunters. The 11-minute short was shot in Peterborough, Ont.

As a filmmaker, however, Duffy was something of an anomaly. Whereas most students spent up to several months working on their projects, Duffy turned his film around in a remarkably short time. "It was kind of a last-minute decision," he admits. "The festival was coming up, and I thought: why not throw together a film? So we shot it over the course of two days, and then the edit took two weeks. It was a very quick turnaround."

But the effort was well worth it. The film earned the 24-year-old filmmaker the award for best picture and a $1,500 prize, and it was later accepted into the Italian International Film Festival. Duffy hopes to make it into the Toronto International Film Festival this year.

"We've had great success with the students submitting films to festivals around the world and getting in," Foote says. "That's the biggest compliment they can get."

Lewis Leon, another Toronto Film School graduate, made a documentary about Internet dating called love.com that was accepted into several festivals worldwide, including Athens, Beirut, Ireland, L.A. and Montreal.

The school's animation students have had their work showcased on giant monitors in TTC stops around Toronto, and still other animation graduates have worked on major Hollywood blockbusters such as Lord of the Rings and Spider-Man.

What makes the curriculum at the Toronto Film School unique is its emphasis on hands-on learning. Students have 24-hour access to the school's facilities, film studios and equipment, allowing them unfettered control over their projects.

"I think people learn best by doing," Foote says. "You can sit in a lecture hall with 400 people and talk about directing and camera angles until you're blue in the face. And I do think people should know theory, but you're going to learn so much more by getting your hands on that camera and shooting with it."

"HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE"

Matthew Duffy agrees. "At other universities, you usually have to do a lot of 'paperwork' before they actually let you touch equipment," Duffy says. "What I really needed was more hands-on experience. That was my primary reason for choosing the Academy."

Having said that, Duffy maintains that theory and hands-on training will only take you so far. "People ask me: 'Can I just go to the Academy and get a job when I'm done?' And I always say no," Duffy says. "The Academy is not going to hand you a film career on a silver platter. You have to have the drive, you have to be creative, and you have to take what knowledge they give you and go beyond that."

The Toronto Film School Festival of Film is made possible by the generous support of its official media sponsor, the Toronto Sun, and will be held at the Glenn Gould Studio (250 Front St. W.) on Feb. 10 at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Visit www.tfsf2006.com after Feb. 10 for a chance to view this year's winning films.

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