Alumni News

We hope you'll consider a donation to one of the new Film and Media Funds including the Peter Morris Memorial Scholarship, and the Dr. John Ramlochand Memorial Student Initiatives Fund.

See photos of our 40th Anniversary Reunion in May 2010.

See photos of the November 2010 gathering of alumni in Toronto.

See a preview of the new Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts.

Check out old photos, and post updates, on our Facebook group.

If you're a former film student, please contact us with news about your recent activities for this page (see below), or to add a listing to our directory of Alumni E-mail Addresses.

Photos of the Ninnies: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 1997, 1982-91

Photos of Convocation: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000

See also Department News, Scrapbook 1969-1999, Reunion 1999, Construction 2002.

Note: See Alumni E-mail Addresses for contact information.

New Year, directed and co-written by Phil Borg (Arts '05) won Best Feature and Best Actress (Joanna Douglas of Being Erica) at the 2011 Clearwater Film Festival in Florida, and is being screened in Toronto on 21 December. The film, Phil's first feature, is a coming of age comedy with a stellar cast including Nicholas Rose, who was nominated for an ACTRA award for his work.

Owen Roth (Arts '08), Evan Bellam (Arts '09), and Devin Knowles (Arts '09) will be premiering their web series Cut to the Chase in January. The series is about an aspiring filmmaker named Chase Fountaine, whose efforts are largely motivated by the sudden departure, and subsequent success, of his "untalented" roommate Josh Wood. As Josh's fame rises, Chase's actions become more desperate, with hilarious results.

One of the visitors for the Queen's Focus Film Festival this year will be Paul WInestock (Arts '89), who is currently president of the Canadian Cinema Editors. Paul has been busy in 2011 working on the TV series King and Little Mosque. Commenting on the plans for our new Performing Arts Centre, Paul says, "Exciting stuff at Queen's Film -- it's a huge change from when I was there. I might have to return to being a student..."

Ben West (Arts '96) has been running Big Green Technical Solutions in Vancouver since 2004, providing a range of interactive and video services. Ben was profiled in Business in Vancouver recently, after his new company Xomo Digital won a Canadian New Media Award for Best Mobile App, for their work on the Vancouver Olympics.

"Hey guys! James Tarlton (Arts '07... last year as 'Film Studies') here. After graduating, I moved to San Francisco, California where I worked in corporate and event video for a year before heading down to Los Angeles where I am now at USC pursuing my MFA in Film and TV Production. I am going into my 4th year of the degree, am specializing in Directing and Cinematography. My latest film as director, Out of the Shadows, is completed."
 

Matt MacLellan sent a great update in July: "For the last year or so, I've been working on music videos with TwoThreeFive Films in Toronto. Last night, I won my first MMVA as a producer on Classified's That Ain't Classy (MuchVibe Best Hip-Hop Video of the Year.) Hopefully the first of many to come. I'm pretty excited about it."

Evan Bellam (Arts '09) and PJ Lee (Arts '09) have put together a daily video blog at Konekt Magazine, following a not-for-profit organization in Kenya called the Kenya Help Project.

Craig Allen Conoley (Arts '08) writes, "After spending a year creating documentary-inspired web videos for WatchMojo.com, I returned to Ottawa and put together Partus Films. We are currently in post production on a feature documentary entitled Life Song and have just released our first short entitled Poetry in Motion, a short narrative providing a visceral account of a poet's relationship to cerebral palsy. It is competing in this year's Ottawa International Film Festival on Sunday, 21 August for best music video. We are currently seeking out distribution and completion funding for Life Song and hope to release it in 2012."
 

The latest production by Jedrzej Jonasz (Arts '00) is a an iPad version of his naval strategy game Battle Fleet, from his development company iPhone Strategy Games.

A nice update arrived from Carrie McKenna (Arts '02): "My husband Kevin and I are thrilled to announce the arrival of our baby girl, Julia Yvette Kelley, on January 14th, 2011 in Toronto. I continue to work in online advertising selling integrations and sponsorships on sites such as NFL.com, USMagazine.com, Marvel.com, ComingSoon.net, etc., however am really enjoying my time away from the office on maternity leave taking care of my beautiful daughter."
 

Marc Griffin (Arts '00) has been producing a new blog and podcast series from Montreal called The Poutine Wall. It's devoted to "Sports & Pop Culture from Canada's Cultural Divide" and has been attracting lots of attention, as well as top-notch guests from the worlds of sports and movies.

We were sorry to hear of the death of Trevor Brown (Arts '00) in Kingston in May. Trevor's obituary suggested that memorial donations might go to the new Mental Health Unit at Kingston General Hospital.

Ben Roberts and Brett Bergmann (Arts '04) have developed a free piece of mobile software called Pulse The World which has been getting great reviews and ratings in the iTunes App Store. PTW lets you tag and discover things happening around you.

Amanda Sage (Arts '01) continues to expand her website Kickass Canadians featuring inspiring people from all walks of life, including some former Queen's Film students: producer Alex Jansen and National Parks Project "filmmaker-visionaries" Ryan j. Noth (Arts '01) and Geoff Morrison (Arts '02).

Meanwhile, the National Parks Project picked up a Golden Sheaf nomination at the Yorkton Film Festival. Peter Raymont (Arts '72) was also nominated, as producer of documentaries Pet Pharm and The Team, and former Queen's prof Brenda Longfellow was nominated in the experimental category for her short enviro-opera Carpe Diem.

Author, chef and media personality Trish Magwood (Arts '93) has a new cookbook called In My Mother's Kitchen, about family cooking and life at home. Working with Trish as a producer is Julia Keilty (Arts '05).

David Ridgen (Arts '91) recently produced a short radio documentary for CBC's The Current on a 1964 cold case in Louisiana, called "Murder at the Shoe Shop." It was also broadcast in the U.S. on NPR as the Mystery Of Frank Morris.

Andrew King (Arts '09) shot a short documentary on the Premiere of Kenneyville which also gives a look at the production of the ambitious low-budget feature. He had some help from Mark Delottinville (Arts '09).

Adam Bentley (Arts '08) wants to follow up on his success at the 2009 Cabbagetown Short Film & Video Festival in Toronto with his documentary Luke's Kitchen. He says, "I am officially launching pre-production for my third short film, Call of the City, my most ambitious film yet! My first big step is organizing a fundraising campaign at IndieGoGo."

Elson Chan (Arts '10) writes from Hong Kong: "I am now working in the television industry as a production assistant at a television station called Television Broadcast Limited. Basically, what I do is to assist the directors with filmingā casting, arranging schedules, preparing props and costumes (and much much more....) Well, to be honest, this is a very demanding job that comes with much pressure, but I have learned a great deal about the television industry. So I guess it's safe to say that I enjoy working as a production assistant. That being said, I really miss school!"

Ben Sulzenko (Arts '08) writes, "I finished my MA at U of T in April of 2009 and have been working in the biz since. I'm currently researching and casting on a Food Network Canada show called Pitchin' In with Chef Lynn Crawford. The production company I work for is called Frantic Films."

Karie Richards (Arts '93) was one of a crowd of alumni and other well-wishers who turned out for the recent Toronto launch of Prof. Clarke Mackey's book Random Acts of Culture: Reclaiming Art and Community in the 21st Century.
 

Ed Leung (Arts '96) looked happy because he thought he was lining up for the new Roller Derby book.
 

Owin Lambeck (Arts '95) finally told Clarke what an influence Clarke has been on his wardrobe.

Thanks to David Scott (Arts '96) for the photos.
 

Steve McNamee (Arts '94) spent part of September and October in the Northwest Passage, on the Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen, doing sound and second camera on a shoot for the documentary Polar Explorer.
 

Hayley Crooks (Arts '10) and Paul Kehs (Arts '09) were married on 2 October, with the ceremony and reception taking place at the University Club next door to Film House (seen in the background of this photo.) Several other Film alumni were in attendance, including Patrick Whistler and Katherine Cummings who were members of the wedding party.
 

The latest issue of Konekt magazine, co-published by Neil Martin (Arts '09), has hit university campuses in Kingston, Ottawa, London and Waterloo. The glossy quarterly magazine with a circulation of 25,000 was launched last year, and features writing and art contributed by students.

Don Breithaupt (Arts '83) invited everybody to "Toronto Sings the Breithaupt Brothers Songbook" at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto's historic Distillery District on 2-3 October. "As always, we have a small army of brilliant vocalists performing our original jazz, pop and theatrical songs with a swingin'/sensitive trio."
 

David Ridgen (Arts '91) picked up Gemini nominations for Best Editorial Research and Best News Information Segment, for his documentary Canadian Cold Case: The Bomb That Killed Wayne Greavette on CBC TV. Meanwhile, his theatrical doc American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein has been on the festival circuit, including David's appearance on a panel with Michael Moore called "Here Comes Trouble" at the Traverse City Film Festival.
 

Another busy year cutting in Toronto for Geoff Ashenhurst (Arts '99). He writes, "Two films I worked on are making their World Premieres at TIFF. A Beginner's Guide To Endings from writer/director Jonathan Sobol is a dark comedy about 3 brothers (Scott Caan, Jason Jones, Paulo Costanzo) dealing with the somewhat complicated legacy left behind by their wayward father (Harvey Keitel). cite>The Whistleblower from writer/director Larysa Kondracki is a thriller set in post-war Bosnia, based on the true story of an American cop (Rachel Weisz) and her discovery of a sex-trafficking scandal involving the UN. And when I'm not editing I'm busy with my awesome year-old son Cole."

Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film is the first film directed by our '97-98 Glasgow exchange student Andrew Monument. The Canadian premiere was at Rue Morgue's "Festival of Fear" in Toronto in August. Since graduating from Glasgow Andrew hs been working as an editor in the U.S. for various networks including National Geographic and Discovery Channel. He says, "The film is also currently available On-Demand in Canada through Videotron, Cogeco, Telus and Shawvideo. It is also available at iTunes and Amazon. We are scheduled to release Sept.28 on DVD and Blu-Ray."

Chris Donaldson (Arts '94) has been busy editing episodes of The Bridge, Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town and The Border, but his short film 2:14 PM also showed recently at the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto, in the program "One for the Road".

Dorothy Engelman (Arts '82) tells us that there are now four Queen's Film grads working at q media solutions, the company started by Dorothy and her husband Richard Quinlan ('81) about ten years ago. Also on staff now are Associate Producer Menaka Mallikage ('05) and most recently Matt Campea ('09). Dorothy and q media are also still very involved in their Power of the Hour campaign to encourage community volunteer work.

Jeremy Shtern (Arts '01) is a Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Communication and Design at Ryerson University. He has recently co-edited Media Divides: Communication Rights and the Right to Communicate in Canada, published by UBC Press.

Dana (Kearns) Brou (Arts '95) announces, "Everything is going great with our new little girl, Isabel Lorraine. She arrived on April 29 and weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs., 12 oz.! She's a happy, healthy baby and we've all settled in nicely at home, save for only getting sleep in 3-4 hour stretches at a time."

Tasha Diamant (Arts '83) received strong positive response at the 2009 Edmonton Fringe Festival to her Human Body Project performances, which she has been doing since 2006. Tasha states that, "It feels intensely urgent to me that we humans address the amputation of empathy and connectedness from our existence," and her latest step in what she intends to be a lifelong project, is a recently-completed video documentary.

After working at CBC and TSN, Wilder Weir (Arts '06) is now one of the hosts of Oh So Cosmo on Cosmopolitan TV, the cable channel associated with Cosmo magazine. He's seen here on location in Miami. Wilder also does stand-up at Yuk Yuks and other clubs.
 

The latest episode in the documentary series Canadian Cold Case produced by David Ridgen (Arts '91) aired on CBC Radio's The Current, and CBC-TV's The National in March. Sharin' Morningstar Keenan was nine years old when she disappeared from Sibelius Park in Toronto on January 23, 1983. City-wide searches were conducted, and her body was found nine days later. A man eventually identified as Dennis Melvin Howe was named the perpetrator, and has been on the run ever since. Some believe he may still be alive in Canada, the United States, or Mexico.

Alumni were well represented at the 10th Anniversary Kingston Canadian Film Festival: Ryan j. Noth (Arts '01) and Geoff Morrison (Arts '02) brought both their Gros Morne documentary and their low-budget feature No Heart Feelings to the Festival. The two filmmakers also participated in a workshop on producing a first feature.

Peter Raymont (Arts '72) screened Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, and conducted a Master Class on documentary. The Festival also hosted the Kingston premiere of Defendor, edited by Geoff Ashenhurst (Arts '99). And a long list of alumni contributed to a workshop on Breaking In: Starting a Career in Film & Media.

One of the Local Shorts was Farce Films by Rob Lindsay, playing before High Life on both Saturday and Sunday. And check out the trailer for the Festival at YouTube, by Andrew Gurney.
 

Andy Landen (Arts '04) is one of ten finalists for the 2010 "Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker's Award". Ten scripts were chosen from hundreds submitted, for a 50-second theatrical commercial linking Coke and the moviegoing experience, to be produced at a cost of up to $7,500 each. The 2010 finalists can be viewed online; Andy's entry is called "Message in a Bottle."

The New York TImes has reviewed the long-awaited documentary American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein co-directed by David Ridgen (Arts '91) and Nicolas Rossier. The subject of the film was first suggested to David by Noam Chomsky, and having always been interested in individuals who take bold action, he began working on American Radical in 1997. The film is currently on the festival circuit, and will play Hot Docs in Toronto in May.

The Next Day, a new-media project by Shahid Quadri and Alex Jansen, is one of two winning entries of the NFB-TVO Calling Card Program, which offers Ontario-based filmmakers and new-media teams $45,000 and the chance to work with the NFB and TVO to create documentaries. The Next Day will be a philosophical, magic realism documentary told in an interactive graphic novel form, and based on interviews with three survivors of suicide attempts. It will be launched on both NFB.ca and tvo.org.

Chris Kennedy attended a Canadian Film Institute retrospective of his work called The World Viewed: The Films of Chris Kennedy on 4 February at Club SAW in Ottawa. Program notes mention that Chris "holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, where he was co-founder and host of a weekly film salon. His work as an artist and programmer operates in dialogue with the history of film as art, exploring the medium's materiality in a contemporary context."
 

Pawel Hyrkiel (Arts '03) in Toronto says: "I am now fully involved in the travel industry, having been with numerous companies since my last update. Currently I am working for MeritBiz, the corporate travel part of the Merit Family. I am doing quite well arranging travel for employees of several large corporations such as Panasonic and Deloitte. The work is good, definitely a bit of a challenge. Good luck to all."

We have another alumna working at TVOntario: Yasmina Sekkat completed the media writing program at Humber College and now works as an Associate Producer on the current affairs show The Agenda at TVO. She also has an active presence on Twitter.

Stephanie Wilson (Arts '09) writes, "I'm still in Vancouver and loving it! I've moved into my fabulous studio apartment in the trendy Main St. (Mount Pleasant) district, and decided to apply for a spot in the highly competitive MFA program at UBC - MFA Film Production and Creative Writing, which will begin in Sept 2010. I'm planning to take some time off and come home to Ontario for a couple weeks during the Olympics (if I can rent out my place, that is.)"

Neil Bailey (Arts '06) has been working on a documentary on the up-and-coming fashion designers involved in "Iconic Power," the 2009 Art of Fashion design competition. See a teaser at ArtOfFashion.org.

Toronto-based musician and composer Don Breithaupt (Arts '83) received an Emmy Award for his theme to the hit animated series 6teen at ceremonies held in Los Angeles on 29 August. Breithaupt (left) and his DNA Music Productions partner Anthony Vanderburgh (right) were nominated in the category "Outstanding Original Song - Main Title," and beat out four other nominees including "There's More Today Every Day" from NBC's long-running Today Show. Don's reaction: "They called our names, and before I knew it, we were onstage thanking the academy. The academy! Who gets to do that? The Sesame Street cast and crew were there to celebrate their fortieth anniversary, and we were presented with our award by Telly. Props to Cookie Monster, but Telly is now my favourite muppet."

6teen has been carried in Canada by TeleToon since 2004, but began running on the Cartoon Network in the U.S. only last year. Don also currently holds the keyboard chair in the Kim Mitchell Band, and his musical Seeing Stars, set in the rough and tumble world of Depression-era professional boxing, gets its world premiere at the New York Musical Theatre Festival from 7-17 October at The Theatre at St. Clement's on West 46th St.
 

The new novel The Carnivore by successful Kingston writer Mark Sinnett (Arts '85) will be launched at Kingston WritersFest on 24 September at 7:00 P.M. The following evening, Mark will take part in an onstage discussion with Joseph Boyden, Michael Crummey and Steven Heighton on the new male hero. ("Lives of Boys and Men," Friday 25 September, 8:30 P.M.) Advance tickets $10, rush admission free for Queen's students.

Craig Conoley (Arts '08) is back from Nepal where he produced a number of promotional docs on the co-op movement (see September 2008 below.) He writes, "I have made my way to Montreal. I'm now working for watchmojo, a new media company and leader in the cybermarket of a new digital economy. We produce a variety of segments ranging from the surf scene in Montreal, to How To clips on beating the frosh 15. Sometimes we are even lucky enough to interview the Justin Biebers of the world, or guys like Louis Psihoyos, the director of The Cove. We are a videopedia that is exploring the world of content branding and infotainment. I have been hired on to bring a documentary sensibility to the clips. Please check out the site and watch our mojo!"

Producer and director Jonathan Weiman and Torey Kohara (Arts '09) have returned from shooting in Rwanda for their feature-length documentary A Generation After Genocide. They were recently interviewed on CTV's Canada AM.
 

Robert Perry (Arts '05) wrote in August to get our help in filling a job opening: "I've been put in charge of finding an entry-level office assistant for the production company I work for, Suneeva. We're a Toronto based company that focuses on producing high end TV commercials. The job will provide a good overview of commercial production and it's an ideal job for recent grads looking to break into the commercial production industry."

Geoff Ashenhurst (Arts '99) is still cutting ads and music videos at Stealing Time in Toronto, but he writes: "I took a leave over the winter to cut my first theatrical feature, Defendor. Written and directed by Peter Stebbings, starring Woody Harrelson, Kat Dennings, Elias Koteas and Sandra Oh, the film will be making its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. My other big news is the birth of my son, Cole Thomas Ruby Ashenhurst. Proud editor, proud father."
 

Laurie McGregor (Arts '05) writes, "Since Queen's, I've been doing a lot of odd jobs, including many a café, a teaching gig, and a stint in an art gallery/artist run centre, but I also went back to school to study graphic design, where I met another Queen's Film grad, Franci Duran. Under her tutelage, I became a not so bad designer and I've recently accepted the position of Junior Designer at Oxford University Press Canada. I haven't given up on film though! Currently, I'm also doing a research internship at Vtape here in Toronto, where I get to work with Erik Martinson. Exciting times!

"I hope everyone is doing well. I really miss Kingston from time to time. I can't believe the news about the move from Film House! I love Film House!"

Note to all Alumni: Yes, if you haven't heard the news, please check out our preview of Queen's future Performing Arts Centre. Maybe we'll have to get the Student Film Society to offer their latest T-shirts (120K JPEG) for sale to Alumni.

Jedrzej Jonasz (Arts '00) writes, "I am finally releasing my feature film about indie filmmaking Low Budget in an abridged episodic version. Over the past few years I have been getting more and more involved in web and new media production and marketing, and have produced podcasts and web shows. Last summer I shot a web travel series in Europe with my wife called Getting Around."
 

Amanda Sage (Arts '01) recently wrote and self-published a children's book called Dinostory. It tells the tale of what really happened to the dinosaurs. To learn more, and find out about her latest projects, visit Amanda's website.

A new short film by Franci Duran (Arts '91) Retrato Oficial (Official Portrait) premiered on 7 April at the Images Festival in Toronto.

Mike Cameron (Arts '00) now has his own film school going, at thesubstream.com. As well as forums and reviews, there are instructional video clips covering everything you might have missed in FILM 250, including "The Boom-Holder's Waltz" (left).
 

Brian O'Neill (Arts '04) came from Vancouver to attend the Kingston Retrospective gala of Reelout 10 on Friday, 6 February, and screen his short film Starring Brian O'Neill As Himself. The program also included several other Queen's student productions.

Laura Heselton (formerly Wilson, Arts '82) has co-produced the feature-length documentary What If?. The film deals with awakening the spiritual power that lies within ourselves, and complements Laura's work as a spiritual medium. She would be happy to hear from you through her website.

Ryan j. Noth (Arts '01, right) and Geoff Morrison (Arts '02, centre) were featured in a recent National Post article about their new documentary on Gros Morne, part of their proposed "National Parks Project" film series. Ryan is also quoted in the Winter 2008 issue of Point Of View (magazine of the Documentary Organization of Canada), in an article about the current state of film festivals and online distribution including FilmCAN.