TORONTO, October 4, 2010 − Celebrating its 40th anniversary amid a rising wave of fresh young talent, the Department of Film in York University’s Faculty of Fine Arts presents its annual CineSiege screening at the newly-opened TIFF Bell Lightbox on October 26.Now in its 9th year, this juried film showcase presents outstanding student productions made at York in 2009-10.
Sharing the silver screen will be the top picks in three genres – short fiction, provocative documentaries and cutting-edge alternative works – selected by five leading lights of the Canadian film and media scene. The winning titles will be announced at the event.
In a nod to the department’s landmark four decades, all the jurors for CineSiege 2010 are former York film students. They are:
- seven-time Gemini Award-winning director Jerry Ciccoritti (CBC’s Trudeau and Dragon Boys, CTV’s Lives of the Saints)
- experimental filmmaker, curator and critic Chris Gehman (Refraction Series, First Dispatch from Atlantis)
- Gemini-winning feature film and TV casting director Jenny Lewis (Grown Up Movie Star, Defendor, Men With Brooms, Little Mosque on the Prairie)
- behind-the-scenes documentarian Julie Ng (whose work accompanied the DVDs for Willard, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the Hairspray and Time Traveler’s Wife remakes)
- Thomas Wallner, co-president of the Emmy Award-winning production company Xenophile Media.
The jury made their selections from a shortlist of 23 nominees, chosen from a pool of 172 films produced last season by undergraduate students in York’s Film Department. In addition to genre winners, recognition is also given to exceptional achievement in specific creative/technical crafts of filmmaking such as cinematography, sound and editing.
Jurors will be on hand at the screening to introduce the CineSiege picks and explain why they were chosen.
"Since our department was established 40 years ago, moving images have come to permeate our world,” said Amnon Buchbinder, Chair of York’s Film Department. “The easier it’s become to capture an image, the greater the challenge to achieve a meaningful impact with it. The films screening at CineSiege, selected by a jury of our own alumni, show that our students are meeting that challenge.”
Making the cut at CineSiege is often a harbinger of great things to come. Many York student productions launched at CineSiege have gone on to screenings and honours at festivals around the world.
Such success stories include Hugh Gibson’s Hogtown Blues (2004), which played at the Toronto International Film Festival and Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and took home the audience award at the 46th Bilbao Film Festival. Joyce Wong’s Banana Bruises (2006) was shown at the Hong Kong International Film Video Awards, San Francisco International Asian Film Festival and the closing night gala of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. Jamie Cussen’s Rock Paper Scissors (2007) won Outstanding International Short at the Beijing International Student Short Film and Video Festival and screened as an official selection at the Austin and Atlantic international filmfests. Pouyan Jafarizadeh Dezfoulian’s Morning will Come (2008) played at the Los Angeles and Montreal film festivals and won the audience vote for the Vtape Award at the 2009 Images Festival in Toronto. Mark Pariselli ‘s After (2009) was shortlisted for the prestigious Iris Prize and has screened at high-profile festivals all over the world including Paris, Athens, Toronto, Montreal, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco and in Germany and Switzerland.
CineSiege is made possible through the generous support of Cinespace Film Studios. The event runs one night only, Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 7pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox, 363 King Street West Toronto. Admission is free.
For more information, visit the CineSiege 2010 website.
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Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, York University’s Department of Film is one of Canada’s leading centres for professional education in the field. The department has been the springboard for a generation of outstanding film artists. Distinguished alumni include Stargate co-creators, screenwriters and producers Robert Cooper and Brad Wright; director/producer Larry Weinstein (Inside Hana’s Suitcase, Blindness, The Music of Kurt Weill, Thirty-Two Short Films about Glenn Gould); visual effects editor Tim Eaton (Beowulf, Zathura, Titanic); cinematographers Paul Sarossy (Chloe, Adoration, Where the Truth Lies) and Mark Irwin (All’s Faire in Love, American Pie 2, Scream, Me, Myself & Irene); producer Bill Bannerman (Twilight: Eclipse and New Moon, The Rock Walking Tall) and directors Aaron Woodley (Toronto Stories, Rhinoceros Eyes), Bronwen Hughes (The L Word, Kids in the Hall), and Carl Bessai (Repeaters, Mothers&Daughters, Normal, Unnatural & Accidental).
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What: CineSiege: A Celebration of York U Film
When: Tuesday, October 26 at 7:00pm
Where: TIFF Bell Lightbox, 363 King Street W. Toronto
Admission: Free
Information: www.yorku.ca/finearts/film/cinesiege
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Clip reel available for media preview
Media Contact:
Amy Stewart, Communications, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
416.650.8469 | amy.stewart@yorku.ca
