A Report on a Student-organised Film Festival in Toronto
ZOOM, a student-organised and run festival showcasing the work of young filmmakers from across the city of Toronto surpassed all expectations. This year’s producers, Jessica Liadsky (Earl Haig S.S.), Carla Babcock (Don Mills C.I.) and Zeesy Powers (Earl Haig S.S.) decided the festival could be used to do more than simply screen student films. Throughout the year students gained access to equipment and facilities to enhance their technical skills, and to peers who they collaborated with to create a better product. A heavy emphasis was placed on community involvement this year, with the idea that good work should be shared with others to promote more good work. The diversity and quality of the films shown spoke for the power of student motivation. Our goal from the beginning of this year’s ZOOM was to give our peers the opportunity to do whatever it is they wanted to accomplish.
When we both applied to be producers last May, we knew from the beginning that we wanted this festival to be big. This was an event with potential that had never been explored. Our goals were large and our aims were high, but we knew that the timing was right. This would be ZOOM’s fourth year running. Having been to the last two festivals and seeing the quality of the students’ work, it became clear that they needed to be recognised by a larger audience. It was well into September when the idea was put forward to open the film festival to other schools. This would be a great opportunity for students across the city, all with a shared love of film, to meet, learn from one another, and relish each other’s work. We quickly got to work putting together information packages for all of the high schools in Toronto, and soon established a relationship with Carla. By the time April rolled around, we had received films from Earl Haig, Humberside, Don Mills, Lawrence Park, Northern and John A. MacDonald.
We spent an entire weekend viewing the twenty-five submitted videos. If someone were to ask what the hardest part of the festival was, it wouldn’t be the many phone calls, the long meetings, or the hours spent running across the city looking for sponsors: it was cutting the six films that didn’t make it. We were only allotted two hours at the Bloor Cinema, and simply did not have the funds to buy more time.
Our promotional plans for the festival came to an abrupt halt when we endured two strikes this year. It was during this time when we realised we needed to convey our information in a different way. A web page brought us a whole new wave of participants interested in how they could get involved in ZOOM. April and May were spent plastering posters about the city and stickers on every surface we could find.
For the first few weeks in May ticket sales were slow at Earl Haig, but by that last week they were going fast. Don Mills, having entered a number of films into the festival, was also doing very well. It was a much harder task to sell tickets at other schools since only one or two had been submitted at each. We desperately hoped that we would be able to fill 200 of the theatre’s 750 seats. On the festival night, to our great surprise and excitement, we ran out of our three hundred programs well before the lights dimmed. The theatre was packed nearly to capacity and the audience seemed every bit as excited as we were.
18 films were screened at this year’s ZOOM at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Most of those filmmakers were directly assisted by the festival at some point. ZOOM arranged for technical workshops run in-school by students and through our sponsors at Trinity Square Video. We also attempted to give our filmmakers some help in areas of film making such as script-writing, assembling cast and crew and marketing through our creative workshops.
The quality of the work cannot be understated. Juried prizes were awarded to four of the films: Editing: Sumit Ajwani (John A. MacDonald) Dual Reflex, Animation: Yervant Kulbashian (Earl Haig) The 90’s Project. Honorary Runner-Up: Paul Carcasole (Earl Haig) Booba: Her Life and Times and Best Overall: Zeesy Powers (Earl Haig) Things People Do With Their Heads. A People’s Choice Award, voted by the audience, was also given to Rebecca Rose (Don Mills C.I.) who collaborated with actors and crew from Earl Haig, Don Mills and across the city for A Way Out. Julian Ritchings, a Toronto actor, Lex Vaughn, a local filmmaker, Day Milman, a member of the Trinity Square Video staff and local artist, and Jamie Shannon, a puppeteer and veteran of Canadian children’s television were the adjudicators. Prizes from AliasWavefront and Merkle Camera were generously donated to the winners, along with beautiful statues made by Claude Watson art student Jessica Huang. Carla’s fantastic dentist supplied the People’s Choice winner with a personalised ZOOM electric toothbrush.
The videos screened covered a wide range of styles. Justin Sutton’s (Don Mills) visual poetry piece, The Distant Journey, was a beautiful exploration of loneliness. Layers of light created by the urban landscape gave the film a magical atmosphere. In contrast to this was Gameshow, created by Jordan Poppenk (Humberside), a frenetic cross between reality television and Japanese gameshows. The special effects extravaganza that was The S.A.C. Film Fest by James Darling defied the usual high-school movie spoof. Instead it was a well-made, intelligent and entertaining look at teenagers delusions of grandeur.
One of the biggest accomplishments of this years ZOOM festival was the public interest it generated. The festival provided the exposure that had been wanted for the filmmakers and their work. Not only was student film promoted, but young artists had the opportunity to show their work to the public through an art show exhibited at the Bloor Cinema. Our web page, www.zoomfestival.com, designed by Earl Haig student Misha Ourmouzov, was not only a link to the community at large, but an outlet for new student work. Even the well-attended post-event reception at the Tranzac Club featured student musicians, some of whom had provided the original soundtracks to the evening’s videos. Through ZOOM participants have had exposure on YTV, CityTV, and in October will be featured at the Levis Toronto Teen International Film and Video Festival.
ZOOM 2001 proved that when students have ownership of a product they are able to produce something which exceeds all expectations. Never before had a high-school event in Toronto reached so many people and provided so many opportunities for the young people involved in it. ZOOM will continue next year, as an ideal forum for work created in-school by young people.
Interested students and teachers are encouraged to contact the festival with questions and comments. The festival is always interested in including new schools and voices, and helping young people achieve their artistic goals. In the coming years, ZOOM hopes to become a year-long event that bridges the gap between young people and the community.
If we could go back in time, we wouldn’t change a thing. This experience has taught us everything from marketing to editing, sales to sponsorships. We have been so privileged to have had the opportunity to work with so many talented musicians, artists, actors and, of course, filmmakers. ZOOM has the potential to grow even further; with the support we received this year, and the interest in the next, ZOOM is a success that is just beginning.
You can contact ZOOM about involvement in 2001/2002 at zoomfestival@hotmail.com, or visit the web page at www.zoomfestival.com