It’s the end of term and the finish line is nearly in sight in more ways than one for York film students. Over the next four weeks, they will premiere their new productions in The Finish Line, the Department of Film’s annual year-end screenings.
Running over 10 evenings, the program showcases 170 productions in a variety of cinematic media created by up-and-coming filmmakers at all levels, from first to fourth year.
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Above: Film student Elisa Iannacone (left) shoots footage for the film Bright Lights. Theatre student Erin Renholt (right) stars in the film, which will be screened as part of The Finish Line. |
“The first-year students shoot and screen five-minute short narratives on 16mm film. In second year, they shoot on 16mm and on video, and most of the upper-year productions are in Super 16 or high-definition formats. From second to fourth year, students produce works that range across fiction, documentary and alternative genres,” explained York film Professor Jim Fisher
Combining digital video and computer-generated effects with more traditional 16mm and Super 8 film, this year’s productions run a wide gamut of themes and range in length from two to 20 minutes.
The screenings began April 11 with the first-year films and continue until May 2. Showtime is 7pm in The Price Family Cinema in the Accolade East building. Admission is free.
Upcoming screenings are:
- April 16-18: second-year productions
- April 23-25: third-year fiction, documentaries and alternative
- April 30, May 1 & 2: fourth-year fiction, documentaries and alternative
The Price Family Cinema, a state-of-the-art, 500-seat facility with a 40-foot-wide screen and 19-speaker Dolby Digital Surround Sound audio system, offers exceptional viewing. Equipped for projection in formats ranging from video to cinema-quality digital, the cinema boasts one of only a handful of DLP Christie Digital projectors in the Greater Toronto Area.
The Finish Line is only the beginning for York film students, many of whom go on to excel on the festival circuit at home and abroad, including the legendary Cannes Film Festival in France and the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (see the May 19, 2006 issue of YFile).
This article was submitted to YFile by Mary-Lou Schagena in the Faculty of Fine Arts.