Wednesday, October 26, 2016
7:00pm
The Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
506 Bloor St. West, Toronto
Free admission
Now in its 14th year, CineSiege presents a collection of short films – riveting fiction, cutting-edge alternative works and provocative documentaries – selected by leading lights of the Canadian film and media scene.
Screening one night only, this juried showcase features the best productions created in 2015-2016 by undergraduate students in York University’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts. The films selected for CineSiege 2016 were chosen from a shortlist of 28 nominees, culled from 172 productions made last year.
The nominees were reviewed by nine external jurors, working in three teams. Focusing respectively on excellence in directing and screenwriting, cinematography, and editing and sound, the jury picked the productions to be shown at CineSiege, with “best of” awards for each genre and craft area.
Jurors will be in attendance at CineSiege to introduce the winning films and explain why they were selected.
CineSiege is made possible through the generous support of
Directing/Screenwriting
Charlotte Mickie
Charlotte Mickie is president of Mongrel International, an operating division of Mongrel Media. Previously she served as executive vice president at eOne Films International, a company she joined in 2008 when it acquired Maximum Films, where she had been managing director. During her tenure at eOne she oversaw sales on Beasts of the Southern Wild, Animal Kingdom, Incendies and The Babadook, among others. Prior to Maximum Films, she was managing director of Celluloid Dreams, selling films by Jacques Audiard, the Dardenne brothers, and Michael Haneke. She also oversaw sales at Alliance Atlantis; and founded the Alliance Independent division. Mickie has been instrumental in bringing some of the most iconic independent films and directors to the world’s attention.
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Matthew Miller
Matthew Miller’s credits as producer include prize-winning films at international festivals including TIFF, Sundance, Locarno and Busan. He produced and story edited Matt Johnson’s breakout hit The Dirties, and in 2013 teamed up with Johnson to form Zapruder Films, a production company behind Johnson’s mockumentary thriller, Operation Avalanche, now screening internationally. Miller is currently executive producing season one of the TV series Nirvanna the Band the Show for VICELAND. Also an accomplished writer and director, he is a graduate of York’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts.
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Nadine Valcin
Nadine Valcin is an award-winning filmmaker whose work deals with questions of race, language and identity. Her documentary projects for the National Film Board of Canada including the critically-acclaimed Black, Bold and Beautiful and Une école sans frontières (A School without Borders). She has also directed several shorts and is currently developing two feature films. Her honours include a Chalmers Arts Fellowship and a National Screen Institute Drama Prize. She was artist-in-residence at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in 2015-16.
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Cinematography
Adam Crosby
Adam Crosby is an active member of Toronto’s filmmaking community. His passion for creative collaboration is evident in the strong aesthetic philosophies underlying his work. A talented visual storyteller, he has lent his unique perspective to a wide variety of portfolio projects, including short and long format narrative, documentary, commercials, music videos and episodic content. He holds a degree in film production from York.
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Iris Ng
Iris Ng is a cinematographer with over a decade of experience collaborating with award-winning filmmakers and artists on more than 60 documentaries, art and narrative films, series, commercials, and music videos. Her credits include Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, Herman’s House directed by Angad Bhalla, Liz Marshall’s The Ghosts in our Machine, and the TV series Making a Murderer and Kim’s Convenience. Ng has also lensed films directed by Vikram Jayanti, Min Sook Lee, Fredrik Gertten, Rama Rau, Richard Fung, Martha Burns, Fisher Stevens, and artists Chris Curreri and Oliver Husain. She is an alumna of York’s film production program.
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Mikhail Petrenko
Mikhail Petrenko has amassed extensive cinematography credits since graduating from York’s film production program in 2008. His portfolio includes award-winning features and shorts, TV and web commercials, and music videos. His work on the feature films The Taste of Relation directed by Mukesh Asopa and Pearls of the Far East directed by Cuong Ngo won him best cinematography awards at festivals from Amsterdam to Dallas.
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Editing/Sound
Michèle Hozer
Michèle Hozer’s 30-year career as editor and filmmaker spans more than 50 documentaries and accolades from the world’s most prestigious film festivals, including an Emmy nomination for outstanding achievement in editing and two films on the Oscar shortlist. Shake Hands with The Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire, winner of an Emmy for best documentary and the audience award at Sundance, earned Hozer a Gemini for best picture editing. She won the Canadian Cinema Editors Award for West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson in 2012, and the Donald Brittain Award for best social/political documentary at the 2015 Canadian Screen Awards for Sugar Coated, a feature documentary that she directed, edited and produced.
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Baun Mah
Baun Mah’s credits as editor include numerous shorts and leading reality TV series including Canada’s Got Talent, The Amazing Race Canada and Top Chef Canada. Current projects include the series Chopped Canada and Big Brother Canada, which earned him a 2016 Canadian Screen Award nomination for best editing. Mah also wrote and directed the director of the award-winning documentary short A Chink in the Armour, a playful look at Chinese stereotypes in North America.
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Deborah Palloway
Deborah Palloway is an award winning documentary editor with a passion for social/political and arts projects. Productions she has worked on have won Emmy, Gemini and Hot Docs awards and have been screened worldwide. Her credits include Lowdown Tracks, The Maestro and the Master: Building a New Mariinsky, In the Name of the Family, Mom’s Home, Reconstructing Prokofiev, and Glenn Gould: The Russian Journey. She is currently working on a documentary about young caregivers and early onset Alzheimer’s.
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1st Year Nominees
A Familiar Tree
6mins.
Director/ Producer/ Writer/
Cinematography/ Editor/ Sound: Frank Varga
A divorced father attempts to reconnect with his son after they lose one another in a forest.
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Static
5 min.
Director: Martin Czachor, Chris Anderson
Producer/Writer: Christian Anderson
Cinematographer: Martin Czachor
Editors/Sound: Martin Czachor, Christian Anderson
A young man deals with the loss of his innocence, through the promise of brutality.
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Where Are You, my Dear?
6 min.
Directors/Producers/Editors: Chris Atkins, Amir Amenov
Writer: Amir Amenov
Cinematography: Christopher Atkins
Sound: Frank Varga
Two people fell in love at the cinema.
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2nd Year Nominees
Mimes Sing Softly
10 min.
Director/Writer/Editor: Samira Darbandsari
Cinematography: Sam Holling
Sound: Sophia Sam
Mina goes to her ex-lover Aras’s tailor shop to find a job. Because she doesn’t have a work permit, Aras offers to let Mina to work nights at his store – a cunning offer that puts Mina in a difficult position.
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Salamander
7 min.
Director: Aidan Cheeatow
Producers: Aidan Cheeatow, Cristian Gomes, Kerim Banka
Cinematography: Cristian Gomes
Editor: Kerim Banka
A character study of Misha Mykitiuk, a young competitive swimmer and musician.
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Take Off
9 min.
Director/Producer: Alexander DeSouza
Writers: Jazmin Batey, Natasha Levinski
Cinematography: Mark Glover
Editor: Adam Van Boxmeer
Sound: Andy Youn
A young couple dream about their future together as they wait for a delayed flight.
3rd Year Nominees
Baylife
8.40 min.
Director/Editor: Nicole Zimmer
Cinematography: Conner Emans
Sound: Michèle DesLauriers
When memories become all you have.
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Future Docs
16 min.
Director: Andrew Morel
Writer: Madeleine Patton
Producer: Aidan Harris
Cinematography: Nick White
Editor: Eric Bizzari | Sound: Cara Shaw
A film director from the future takes a documentary crew back in time to document the life of his hero the morning before he becomes famous.
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Holding On
10 min.
Director: Nora Navarro
Writer: Devon Bain
Producer: Oliver Whitfield-Smith
Cinematograph: Robert Murdoch
Editor: Samson Dannetta
Sound: Michèle DesLauriers
An over-protective mother’s parenting style conflicts with her young adopted daughter’s desire to have more independence.
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Lux
5 min.
Director/Editor/Cinematographer: Shady Hana
Sound: Emmerek VanLeur
An exploration of a man’s mind using light and shadow.
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New Soul
10 min.
Director/ Writer/ Producer/ Editor/ Sound/ Cinematographer: Vladimir Bilenjki
Before the birth of the latest addition to their family, the Krosnjars dwell on the miracle of life.
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Retox
3.50 min.
Director/Writer/Editor/Sound: Elana Emer
Cinematography: Nicole Zimmer, Elana Emer
Producers: Elana Emer, Nicole Zimmer
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
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Roadkill
17 min.
Director/Writer: Aaron Fauteux
Producer: Tamara Moos
Cinematography: Shady Hanna
Editor: Lucas Treleaven
Sound: Sabrina Budiman, Ramona Caprariu
Two roadkill removers, Oscar and Todd, come across what may or may not be an alien on a rural Ontario roadside.
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Salmonella
14 min.
Director: Michele DesLauriers
Writers: Michèle DesLauriers, Connor Savage
Producer/Editor: Christophe Vaugeois
Cinematography: Nora Navarro
Sound: Daniel Blium
An agoraphobic woman, Penny, must face her crippling anxiety when her narrating cat, Salmonella, runs away in the hopes of getting Penny outside.
The Shallow End
13 min.
Director/Writer: Eric Bizzarri
Producer: Elana Emer
Cinematography: Nicole Zimmer
Editor: Sabrina Budiman
Sound: Nancy Yeboah
Christian, a 20-year-old swimming teacher, is having a hard time recovering from an incident where one of his students almost drowns on his watch.
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Tangyuan
12 min.
Director/Writer/Editor: Elston Wong
Cinematography: Thomas Levesque
Sound: Camilo Pena
A family reunion during Chinese New Year reveals certain truths.
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Trapper
13 min.
Director: Lucas Treleaven
Producer: Eric Bizzarri
Cinematography: James Kuta
Editor: Nick White
Sound: Edward Linden
In the cold isolation of Northern Ontario, a painter remembers her life with her husband and grapples with how everything has changed.
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The Water not the Waves
10 min.
Director: Robert Murdoch
What dying might look like.
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4th Year Nominees
Grozota
15 min.
Director/Producer/Writer: Taras Hemon
Cinematography: Alexander Granger
Editor/Sound: Emmerek VanLeur
A Balkan immigrant is forced to face his homophobia to keep his family together after his son unexpectedly brings a boyfriend to a family party.
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Heliana 101
11 min.
Director: Daria Savic
Writers: Daria Savic, Emmerek VanLeur, Alexander Laird
Producers: Elana Emer, Nicole Zimmer
Cinematography: Marileina Pearson, Gabriela Osio Vanden
Editors: Alexander Laird, Daria Savic
Sound: Nancy Yeboah | Production Design: Gabriela Osio Vanden
An introductory course about the romantic life of plants.
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Moods Like Jazz
Director/Editor: Christian Harrison
Producers: Christian Harrison, Robert Murdoch
Cinematography: Robert Murdoch
Location Sound: Connor Johnstone, Sabrina Piedrahita-Budiman
Sound Design: Stephanie Gandza
Re-recording Mixers: Joëlle Leboutte, Meagan Webb
Many have heard the story of Detroit, but few know about those such as local jazz star Lorenzo ‘Spoons’ Brown, who still live and dream within the humbled city.
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My Cradle and Tomb
16 min.
Director: Lina Evans
Producer: Alejandro Mendoza
Cinematograph: Vanesa Chow
Editors: Lina Evans, Alec Bell, Gebriel Balcha
Sound: Alec Bell
With no potable water in Villa Rica, Jota tries to open access to the Colombian town’s single water source.
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Out of Sync
18 min.
Director: Logan Arnold
Cinematography: Alex Brock
Editor: Gebriel Balcha
Sound: Emmerek VanLeur
A short documentary about trying to regain things that have been lost.
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The Rambler
15 min.
Director/Writer: Marileina Pearson
Producers: Marileina Pearson, Robert Murdoch, Gabriela Osio Vanden, Alex Brock
Cinematography: Gabriela Osio Vanden
Editor: Alex Brock
Sound: Connor Johnstone
A young woman in post-WWI Canada meets a stranger who teaches her that all adults cannot be trusted.
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Saudade
18 min.
Director/Producer: Alex Granger
Cinematography: Alexander Granger, Gabriela Osio Vanden
Editor: Alexander Laird
Sound: Emmerek VanLeur
Grief and memory intertwine in a fragmented exploration of a filmmaker’s addictive past.
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Tidal Waves
9 min.
Director/Writer: Kristina Wong
Producer: Adrian Cheung
Cinematography: Jessica De Los Santos
Editors: Kristina Wong, Nicole Ng
Sound: Meagan Webb
A young dancer struggles with scoliosis.
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Tinder Dad
15 min.
Director/Writer: Emmerek VanLeur
Producers: Emmerek VanLeur, Alex Brock
Cinematography: Alex Brock
Editors: Emmerek VanLeur, Andy Kloske
Sound: Nancy Yeboah, Emmerek VanLeur
A hairdresser does her job to the best of her ability.
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White Circus
19 min.
Director/Editor: Connor Johnstone
Cinematography: Daria Savic with Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden
The ecosystems of Churchill, Manitoba are both fragile and resistant to change.
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Best Fiction Film
The Shallow End
13 min.
Director/Writer: Eric Bizzarri
Producer: Elana Emer
Cinematography: Nicole Zimmer
Editor: Sabrina Budiman
Sound: Nancy Yeboah
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Best Documentary
White Circus
19 min.
Director/Editor: Connor Johnstone
Cinematography: Daria Savic with Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden
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Honourable Mention
Trapper
13 min.
Director: Lucas Treleaven
Producer: Eric Bizzarri
Cinematography: James Kuta
Editor: Nick White
Sound: Edward Linden
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Best Alternative Film
Retox
3.50 min.
Director/Writer/Editor/Sound: Elana Emer
Cinematography: Nicole Zimmer, Elana Emer
Producers: Elana Emer, Nicole Zimmer
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Honourable Mention
Saudade
18 min.
Director/Producer: Alex Granger
Cinematography: Alexander Granger, Gabriela Osio Vanden
Editor: Alexander Laird
Sound: Emmerek VanLeur
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Best 2nd Year Film
Mimes Sing Softly
10 min.
Director/Writer/Editor: Samira Darbandsari
Cinematography: Sam Holling
Sound: Sophia Sam
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Best 1st Year Film
A Familiar Tree
6mins.
Director/Producer/Writer/Cinematography/Editor/Sound: Frank Varga
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Best Screenplay
Tangyuan
12 min.
Director/Writer/Editor: Elston Wong
Cinematography: Thomas Levesque
Sound: Camilo Pena
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Best Cinematography
Moods Like Jazz
18 min.
Director/Editor: Christian Harrison
Producers: Christian Harrison, Robert Murdoch
Cinematography: Robert Murdoch
Location Sound: Connor Johnstone, Sabrina Piedrahita-Budiman
Sound Design: Stephanie Gandza
Re-recording Mixers: Joëlle Leboutte, Meagan Webb
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Roadkill
17 min.
Director/Writer: Aaron Fauteux
Producer: Tamara Moos
Cinematography: Shady Hanna
Editor: Lucas Treleaven
Sound: Sabrina Budiman, Ramona Caprariu
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Honourable Mention
The Rambler
15 min.
Director/Writer: Marileina Pearson
Producers: Marileina Pearson, Robert Murdoch, Gabriela Osio Vanden, Alex Brock
Cinematography: Gabriela Osio Vanden
Editor: Alex Brock
Sound: Connor Johnstone
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Best Sound
Retox
3.50 min.
Director/Writer/Editor/Sound: Elana Emer
Cinematography: Nicole Zimmer, Elana Emer
Producers: Elana Emer, Nicole Zimmer
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Honourable Mention
Out of Sync
18 min.
Director: Logan Arnold
Cinematography: Alex Brock
Editor: Gebriel Balcha
Sound: Emmerek VanLeur
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Best Editing
The Shallow End
13 min.
Director/Writer: Eric Bizzarri
Producer: Elana Emer
Cinematography: Nicole Zimmer
Editor: Sabrina Budiman
Sound: Nancy Yeboah
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Honourable Mention
White Circus
19 min.
Director/Editor: Connor Johnstone
Cinematography: Daria Savic with Jack Weisman, Gabriela Osio Vanden
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