Brock University: Screening spotlights work of speedy student filmmakers

A coin, an extreme close-up, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today,” and 72 hours.

Equipped with only these four guidelines, eight filmmaking teams completed entries for the 20th-annual 72-Hour Film Festival, hosted by Brock’s Communication, Popular Culture and Film Student Society (CPCFSS).

At 9 a.m. on Friday, March 3, teams learned about the prop, camera technique and line of dialogue their short films would need to include. At noon on Monday, March 6, they handed in their edited films.

The films were then screened at a gala presentation at the Film House at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre (PAC) on Tuesday, March 7 to an audience of more than 100 people and a panel of judges that included Associate Professor Anthony Kinik and Digital Media Co-ordinator Connor Wilkes (BA ’20), both from the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film, as well as Film Studies graduate Sahar Saeidi (BA ’22).

Kinik says he was “bowled over” by the interest and excitement around this year’s edition of the festival, which was held in-person for the first time in three years.

“The quality of the submissions made it really hard to choose — some of the films were pretty sophisticated in their conception and their execution,” he says. “Our group of judges had a difficult time settling on choices for the top prizes.”

All prizes were sponsored by BrockTV, which also contributed a bulk ticket purchase to allow students to support their colleagues in the festival.

Best Picture went to “The Finale,” directed by fifth-year Business Communication major Jay Lumsden.

Lumsden and members of his team have taken part in the last four iterations of the festival and won several awards in past years, but this was the first time that they brought home top honours.

“The feeling of winning the festival this year is indescribable; I woke up the next morning and still couldn’t believe it,” he says. “This was a win for all our dedication and the hard work everyone has put in over the last four years. We can all retire on top.”

Second-year Film Studies major Allyssa Dalton’s team was recognized for the Best Line Use of the phrase “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today.”

A young woman stares at a shadow in a darkened roomA still from “They’ll Be Alright,” a film which received an award for best use of a required line of dialogue.
“I’ve never partaken in an event like this before where there was a time-crunch or prompts to include within the film, but it made it such a fun and unique challenge to my creativity and I’m so happy with the end result — winning Best Line Use just felt like the cherry on top,” she says. “I’ve made a few short films before, but to have the final result screen alongside the works of other directors to an audience of people that didn’t just include my parents and friends was an incredible feeling I’ll never forget and I can’t thank the organizers enough for all the hard work they put into this event.”

Mathew Chamberlain, co-president of the CPCFSS with Arielle Houshman-Lalande, says that between the 20-year milestone, the flashy venue and the overwhelming support and enthusiasm, this year’s festival has been one for the record books — and, hopefully, the start of a new era.

“We were really thankful for all the support we got ­— everyone was so great in helping us out,” he says. “We’re really hopeful that we can keep this partnership with the Film House growing through the Essential Cinema series and now the 72-Hour Film Festival, and that we can continue to bring student programming and student-made stuff to the PAC and to a larger audience in the community.”

In addition to Kinik and Executive Producer at Brock TV Joel Anthony, Chamberlain says the CPCFSS is especially grateful to staff at the PAC, including Film Programmer Cathy Carr, Director of Operations Kathleen Ross, and Film Projectionist Ernest Harris.

The complete list of award winners is as follows:

Best Picture ($300) — “The Finale,” directed by Jay Lumsden
Second Place ($200) — “Flamingo,” directed by Christian Fischer
Audience Choice ($100) — “Craving Yellow,” directed by Hawkin Paleczny
Best Prop Use ($50) — “Flamingo,” directed by Christian Fischer
Best Line Use ($50) — “They’ll Be Alright,” directed by Allyssa Dalton
Best Camera Technique ($50) — “Crash Course,” directed by Savannah Gallimore