Once More With Feeling
Saturday, April 9, 2022 | 12:00 PM (Doors: 11:30 AM / Runtime: approx. 2 hours) | The Cinematheque (1131 Howe Street, Vancouver) | FREE | RSVP
A collection of short films made by the Simon Fraser Film Production students graduating class of 2020.
Featuring films by Andy Catsirelis, Inanna Cusi, Ciaran Davis-McGregor, Paige Fast, Wolfgang Gmoser, Sam Mason, Katrina Mugume, Selina Repole, Lucas Rojen, Colin Williscroft, and Ashley Yeung.
Please be advised that proof of vaccination along with valid photo ID are required for all in attendance prior to entry. Additionally, masks are mandatory for all persons when not sitting in the theatre.
Presented with support from the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts and The Cinematheque.
The School for the Contemporary Arts recognizes that we are on the unceded and occupied territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Biographies and synopses
Andy Catsirelis
Andy Catsirelis is a filmmaker and editor based in Vancouver, BC. He currently works at Mainframe Studios and with his own works, he often experiments on exposing the glitches within video compression as artistic expression through a process called "datamoshing". His short Noise of the Stream achieved an award for Aesthetic Innovation from Small File Media Festival 2020. Andy is constantly looking to expand his skillset as a filmmaker and editor and is always interested in the experimental, visually and formally.
Chivalrous
A boy's escapism into his favourite comic book world struggles to endure the trauma of his mother and stepfather's fighting. As tensions escalate, he is faced with the reality of his circumstances by taking up the weapon of the comic's namesake.
Inanna Cusi
Inanna Cusi was born in France to a Mexican father and Austrian mother. She grew up in Vancouver Island, Canada and joined Simon Fraser University's film program where she expanded herself as an artist. She is a director, writer, cinematographer, and painter and her films mix experimental techniques of process-driven filmmaking with fictional narratives.
Unknown Being
In the dead of night, he wanders, lost and alone, down the cold streets of Vancouver. He seeks connection, a friend, against the lonely night, but there is little solace to be found for this wanderer, this Unknown Being.
Ciaran Davis-McGregor
Life on the fringes is exposed to the limelight in the films of Ciaran Davis-McGregor. Weaving together stories of desperate outsiders searching for purpose in a hostile world, his films present an empathetic yet critical portrait of the misunderstood. If you turned the world upside down these are the people who would fall out through the cracks. Paranoid mailmen, disgruntled ex-fast food workers and patriotic glue salesmen are just some of the unlikely subjects of his work. Absurdity and tragedy are given equal footing in these distorted examinations of anxiety, masculinity and life under capitalism. His film Midnight Mail was selected to screen at the Whistler Film Festival in 2019 and his follow up Moth Music received the award for Best Student Short at the 2021 Chilliwack Independent Film Festival. Ciaran is currently hard at work developing his most recent directorial project.
Moth Music
Cast off and humiliated by society at large Derrick, a burnt out former fast food worker, seeks justice for himself and his fellow man through the life changing teachings of a charismatic self help group leader.
Paige Fast
Paige Fast is an editor and writer-director from Vancouver, Canada. Their films are characterized by the ironic or polarizing emotional contexts of their protagonists, often centering around themes of mental health, morality, feminism and gender, and intrapersonal growth. A recent graduate of Simon Fraser University’s film production program, Paige is currently working full time in post-production.
Composure
Far too soon after the death of her husband, 30-something Michelle is forced to find work in the service industry to make ends meet. Still grappling with a deep and pervasive sense of loss, she is thrust head first into navigating the most bewildering of customer requests. As the relentless positivity culture pushes her to her breaking point, Michelle evades a close friend's attempts to reach her.
Wolfgang Gmoser
Wolfgang Gmoser is an independent filmmaker from Vancouver, BC. He studied and graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts focused on film production. His keenest interest in film lies in the uncovering of idiosyncrasies in life and preserving fleeting moments through moving images and sounds.
Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking is an experimental blend of narrative fiction and documentary that explores the process of reconciling with past trauma.
Sam Mason
Sam Mason is a filmmaker and writer who graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BFA in Film Production. His projects frequently engage with theatre and dance, looking to explore the possibilities of cinema beyond the single screen and our physical and mental relationships to the spaces around us. His dance film Small Spaces and Big Places screened at the 2019 FORM Film Festival, while his short film Maybelline, 1995 screened in the Cinematheque Filmmaking Showcase exhibit at the Polygon Gallery in 2022. Currently he is working with The Cinematheque cinema as a Learning and Outreach Coordinator, teaching filmmaking through the facilitation of various workshops and programs, and hoping to encourage an exploration of interdisciplinary cinema and a general love of film in future generations.
comb
In the dark of a night-time beach, three friends wander across sand and rock combing for scattered shells and thoughts, meditating on the precipice of a year soon to end.
Katrina Mugume
Filmmaker, director and producer, Katrina Mugume is a child of the diaspora. Born and raised in Kampala, Uganda where she discovered her artistic calling and draws inspiration and purpose for her work today. She moved to Vancouver Canada in 2015 to attend Simon Fraser University’s film school in pursuit of her dreams, graduating with a BFA in Communications with a major in film production. An emerging voice, her films capture and critically question the lives and cultures of African people as they evolve in response to the world. Currently she is working on her debut documentary Afande, an intimate look at the life of her father, a revolutionary Ugandan general. She is also passionate about fostering community for BIPOC women in the film industry as an intern for Women in Film and Television Vancouver and also as the co-founder of the non-profit Black Girl Collective Vancouver.
Afande
Afande is a short Biographical documentary on the life and experiences of my father, Retired General Joram Mugume. On the heels of his retirement, this film offers rare insight into the inner workings of Joram, as a man of humble beginnings, a war hero, a pillar of his community and a father. Set in the serene solitude of his country home in Western Uganda, this film is a powerful portrait that captures Joram, in his most contemplative period of life on his farm, settling into a new pace of life. With insight from his own words, we discover a man who remains mysterious beyond the charm and respect his name carries. Through his own words however we hear and feel the personal accounts of a boy with a lost innocence, coming into manhood on the frontlines of a liberation war, a 20 year military career and the humility of life and faith at the age of 67.
Selina Repole
Selina Repole (b. 1997) is a director and cinematographer currently finishing her BFA in Fine Arts, majoring in Film, at Simon Fraser University. Originally from Prince Rupert BC, she moved to Vancouver to pursue a filmmaking career after being heavily influenced through her involvement with theatre production in high school. She aims to make films that examine generational dynamics and authenticity while challenging traditional narrative frameworks incorporating multi-medium collage-like visuals and evocative soundscapes. She is currently exploring concepts regarding the medium of film as a community building tool which plays upon larger than life spatial relations and embodied histories. Selina has had projects exhibited at FORM Festival, Chilliwack Independent Film Festival, and recently Whistler Film Festival.
Oh To Be A Child
Lifelong friends, Frankie and Lyla, bonded by their mutual religious upbringing and past family traumas, get together for the first time after months of not seeing each other. Reminiscent of the old times, they decide to attend a house party with plans to mix substances, courtesy of Lyla’s boyfriend Mac. As the night progresses and effects of the substances peak, the underlying tension between Mac, Lyla and Frankie becomes apparent. Before the night is even over, Frankie is left feeling unbearable guilt and shame forcing her to take a hard look at her life and the lives of her loved ones. Despite their attempts to escape, heavy realities and unresolved traumas come crashing down. After a serious situation takes place, Frankie is left with the responsibility to breakout of her lifelong gutlessness or risk the heartbreak of disappointment and regret.
Lucas Rojen
Lucas Rojen is a Canadian filmmaker, recently graduated from Simon Fraser University. Lucas is known for his shorts Just Ask Her and They’re on Their Way. Lucas likes to focus on a mixture of experimental and comedic works with an emphasis on the. Having grown up mixed race with Ukrainian and Trinidadian parents, he brings the multicultural perspective into his works. He hopes to bring his knowledge from his upbringing between different cultures and differing disciplines to his work in order to create unique and entertaining media that can be relatable and educational.
Re-string
Tommy is a nearly graduated tennis player looking to build himself a future in the sport he loves. He’s ambitious but ambition can only bring him so far when it comes to getting into university athletics. He’s willing to put in the work to make his dreams come true but sometimes no matter how hard you work, life has other plans. With time running out Tommy has to come face to face with a reality he’s avoided for so long.
Colin Williscroft
Colin Williscroft is a filmmaker, and graduate of Simon Fraser University where he got his BFA in Film Production. His work in film primarily focuses on experimental shorts that engage different formats with an emphasis on sound featured in works such as Dumpster Baby (2019) and O’hara Lane (2020). With this skill base he also has been involved in recording, designing and mixing films within the community such as Moth Music (2021) and A Family Act (2021). He hopes to continue creating and helping the community push the boundaries of film, not only as a way to tell stories but share experiences and develop the medium as language.
What's Coming Down
I remember the trees as being silent. Now, it seems they’ve learned to dance, telling one another stories of the past.
Ashley Yeung
Ashley Yeung is a writer, director, and graduate of Simon Fraser University with a BFA in Film Production. She is a second generation Chinese-Canadian born and raised in Vancouver, BC. Her work is rooted in her culture and self-identity as both a Chinese female and a Canadian citizen. She strives to make films that promote representation and reflect the diversity of Canada. Her previous films have ranged from narrative, experimental, promotional, to dance. Her last dance film collaboration with Chalk Dance Collective was screened at the 2019 FORM Film Festival. Most recently, her graduation film A Family Act received the BC Student Shortwork award at the Whistler Film Festival 2021.
A Family Act
Upon the death of a distant relative, Riley returns home after a long absence and feels a new disconnect from her brother and mother. The film centres around Riley's relationship with her brother and the tension that surfaces after being apart from the family and culture she grew up in. “A Family Act” portrays a young woman’s struggle to understand her identity as a second-generation Chinese-Canadian.