The Project

Sur l’île is a collaborative feature film project created by Concordia University students to celebrate filmmaking while bringing together and recognizing young talent from different disciplines, whether it is a background in business and advertising, an interest in writing and filmmaking or a passion for painting and drawing.

Five short films will be interwoven to create one seamless feature film. Each short will take place on the same night, with the island of Montreal as the main stage. A selection process was held in the fall of 2012 to find five student directors to write and direct each short.  The five filmmakers- Ralitsa Doncheva, Robin Pineda, Derek Branscombe, Stü Segal and Erin Weisgerber- were announced February 14th and they, along with their creative team, will develop aesthetic, thematic, narrative and conceptual links for their works. The Directors were asked to examine the experiences of individuals and their coexistence on an island that embraces diversity. Our mission is to bring together individual talents from the Concordia University community to create a vivid feature film that will touch, vex, delight and provoke.

Individually, students rarely have access to enough financial support or resources to accomplish a feature film. Together, we want to challenge the conventional forms of producing feature films by splitting the project into five individual shoots.  Thus, creating a larger pool of resources and energy will make it easier to tackle such a large scale production.

Each short is granted a minimum production budget of $1,000 and guaranteed access to a professional digital camera, the RED Scarlet™

Team

THE PRODUCERS

Meryam Joobeur

Meryam is entering her third year in Film production at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. Her second year documentary, gods, weeds & revolutions, is in competition at the 2012 Festival du nouveau cinéma. In embarking on the Sur l’île project, Meryam hopes stronger inter-departmental ties will thrive.

Shahab Mihandoust

Shahab was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1982. He left Iran at the age of 22, coming to Montreal as an engineer to explore new languages, cultures and opportunities. He directed and produced the short film a cOmMon InciDent, screened at Concordia Film Festival, after switching from Film Studies to Film Production. His main motivation to join Sur l’île is to lay down the foundations for a creative collaborative project, where his fellow young filmmakers and artists can experiment and apply their talents.

Evren Boisjoli

Evren is in his third year at Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. He is both the founder and president of Achromatic Media Inc., a company involved primarily in producing short films, music videos, and advertisments. Evren became passionate about Sur l’île when he saw the opportunity to produce a high caliber feature while showcasing the eclectic talent that Montreal students possess.

Derek Branscombe

Derek’s interest in design and photography began in high school. He competed provincially (Ontario) and nationally in the Skills Competition in photography, placing first in both. His interest in photography grew and in 2010 he was accepted into Concordia’s Film Production program. His second-year short film Flood has premiered at Fantasia and will be submitted to other festivals this year. Through his involvement in Sur l’île, Derek hopes to engage the student body and build connections with the future creative professionals of Montreal.

Vincent Gonneville

Vincent hails from Shawinigan, Quebec. While attending Concordia Vincent has been working on professional sets as assistant camera, camera operator, lighting technician, and gaffer and grip on various video clips, publicities and films in Quebec. He was the director of photography for the documentary gods, weeds & revolutions. Vincent proposed the idea for Sur l’île, having always wanted to be a part of a collaborative feature film. He is looking forward to participating on the creative and visual components of the film.

Rosario Gallardo

Rosario is a Chilean filmmaker entering her third year in Film Production at Concordia University. After experimenting with various art forms, such as music, theater and painting, she decided to pursue her career in filmmaking. She has worked as production manager, first assistant director and continuity supervisor for various films at Concordia. Rosario joined the Sur l’île team to support her fellow filmmakers in portraying the different stories that take place in this unique city, which she now calls home.

Mattias Graham

Mattias was born and raised in urban Saskatchewan, and has been making films since he was 12 years old. Constantly conflicted, he studied music intensively in high school until he threw caution to the wind and applied to Film Production at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. Luckily, he got in (in spite of his parents best wishes). Finishing his third year at Concordia, he hopes that Sur l’île will go on to demonstrate the immense possibilities of creative collaboration and showcase the unique talent the school and the city have to offer. He is the recipient of the Susan Schouten Documentary Film Award.

PRE-PRODUCTION TEAM

Marie-Josée Archambault – Marie-Josée studied theatre, mime and circus in Paris  and spent the last five years traveling around the world.  In her first year in film production she explored and her neighborhood and its people in her documentary Mile-End.  She is excited to be part of a project which will reveal Montreal in a very intimate way.

Noémie Boisclair

TRANSLATION

Myriam Gervais-O’Neill (Head of Translation)

For my final year at Concordia in the Specialization in Translation program, I wanted to get involved and collaborate with other students. With a cinematographic approach of my charming city, Sur l’île revealed to be the opportunity of a unique collaborative experience. As head translator, I am delighted to be part of this student project.

Sonia Corbeil, Victoria Ohikhena, Yeimy Savoie, Anjel Avci, Christelle Saint-Julien, Audrey Chartier, Véronique Fortin, Nabila Idder, Camille Lapierre , Maïté Indacochéa, Marie- Claude Tremblay

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Sofía Bosch

I’m a designer from Mexico City, I’m currently in my 2nd year at the Concordia University Design Arts program. I chose to participate on Sur l’Île because of my interests in collaborative and integrative projects which bring communities closer together. http://sofiaboschdesign.blogspot.ca/

Taylan Ulger, Alfonso Hss (Photography)

MARKETING

Charles Gedeon

A jack-of-all trades with a spike of interest in marketing, web and design. Even though I am studying Marketing, my true passion lies in graphic design, video and communications – which is why I am interested in helping out with Sur L’ile.

Eddie Biroun, Motasem El Bawab

WEBSITE

Derek Branscombe, Mattias Graham, Thomas Harper

The Directors

Erin Weisgerber

Erin hales from Edmonton, Alberta and is currently completing a BFA in Film production at Concordia, having previously completed degrees in philosophy and Communication studies. She has focused largely on non-narrative filmmaking having produced experimental shorts with a focus on handmade film techniques. Additionally, she works as a director of photography on fiction and documentary films.  Her experimental short The Sound of Breathing won the 2012 Leo & Sandra Kolber Scholarship and was screened in Paris and Montreal with her previous films screening in Montreal, England, France andLebannon. Erin is also a member of Main Film and co-founder of La Cuve Cine-Darkroom Collective, a Montreal based film processing collective.

Derek Branscombe

Originally from Kingston, Ontario, Derek is finsihing his degree in film production. His first year film Dancing Days, was selected in the ‘Best of the Fest’ at the 2011 Concordia Film Festival and his second year film Flood played at the Canadian Film Festival where it won the Best Actress in the shorts selection. He has completed his third short film Passing which will premiere at the 2013 Concordia Film Festival. Derek also works professionally in photography, his work can be seen here: http://www.derekbranscombe.com/

Robin Pineda

Robin is self-taught musician, video artist & composer. Abandoned buildings, dried lakes and lonely forests first haunted the landscapes of his mind. Relocated to Montréal in 2009 from Mexico, he began working as composer, musician and video artist in the local contemporary dance scene. His audio-visual work has been presented at the Monument-National, Agora de la Danse, Tangente & Usine C. His first alchemical video installation premiered in New York in 2012 at the AC Institute. His most recent video installation opened at the Canadian Centre for Architecture. He presently is finishing a master’s thesis and describes his visual work as a continuous search for the miraculous through the quiet life of the image in the sounds capes of time.

Ralitsa Doncheva

Ralitsa Doncheva is a Montreal-based filmmaker and photographer, originating from Bulgaria. She is a 2012 graduate of Concordia University’s film production program, specializing in experimental and documentary cinema. During her studies she made short films and video installations. Her graduating film utilized found footage to further explore questions of identity, belonging and memory. The project won the Susan Schouten Documentary Film Award for Best Documentary. Ralitsa’s photographs can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlebird-not-green/

Stü Segal

Stu comes from Thornhill, Ontario – a small suburb just north of Toronto.  He recently graduate with a BFA in Film Production and just started his MFA in the same field.  Focusing almost entirely on fiction/narrative based having produced numerous shorts that he has written, directed and edited, Stu is currently working on a television pilot as well as a number of other fiction and documentary hybrid films. His short film, The Badger (2012) was well received, was awarded the Carol and Bruce Award for Cinema Entrepreneurship and has been screened in Montreal, Toronto and Israel.

Timeline

October 1st  

Submissions open.

November 1st 2012

Submission deadline.

November 30th 2012

The first round of cuts are made with the top ideas announced.

December 6th- 7th 2012

Interviews with the selected directors. The list will be further narrowed down to 10-12 submissions.

December -January 7th 

The directors will have one month to develop their treatments into scripts.

January 7th- February 14th

Review of scripts by the producing team as well as a an external jury. The  5 chosen scripts were announced February 14th.

March 2013- June 2013

Collaborative script development.

The directors  begin a four-month period of collaborative script development under the supervision of members of the producing team. The directors will seek to develop aesthetic, thematic and conceptual links among their works, challenging each other as the unified script comes to life. Filmmaking and scriptwriting professionals will be approached to provide feedback and advice as the unified script progresses.

May- July 2013

Pre-production.

While the collaborative script development is taking place, producers will assist the directors in assembling their crews. Each short film will have a separate crew, including five different cinematographers. During this phase, Concordia students will be able to apply for positions on the different crews in artistic direction, location scouting, etc. The directors will then choose their team from the pool of crew applicants. A list of available crew positions will be posted on the website in late March.

August 2013

Shooting.

Fall 2013

Post-production.

Spring 2014

Distribution.

The film will premiere at Concordia University’s downtown campus in Spring 2014.

CREW SELECTION

We will be posting on the facebook page updates on crew positions

Below are the shooting Dates:

Between Mirrors (Ralitsa Doncheva)- June 8th- June 12th

Complicated Morning (Erin Weisberger)- August 7th- August 10th

The Rabbi Should have Stayed Home (Stü Segal)- August 11th-15th

Female (Robin Pineda)- August 16th- 20th

Small Water (Derek Branscombe)- August 21st-25th

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