Thirty short films featured at student festival May 15 at Algonquin Theatre

(The following article originally appeared in The Huntsville Forester on May 14, 2008.)

By Gillian Brunette

It takes a long time to produce a five-minute film.

From writing the script to filming and editing, the process takes about a month, according to Huntsville High School media arts student Martine Glover.

Glover is just one of many students from high schools across the Trillium Lakeland District School Board district who will be participating in a student film festival being held at the Algonquin Theatre tomorrow evening, May 15 at 7 p.m.

Titled Passion, Glover’s clip, which shows people doing things they are passionate about, runs for a little over three minutes.

CAMERA READY: Susanne Allen-Spiers, right, HHS visual and media arts department head, and Jennifer Pogue, left, HHS media arts and photography teacher, check out a video clip with student Martine Glover. A student film festival titled Short Films with a Message takes place at the Algonquin Theatre May 15 at 7 p.m.

One of the longer films, at six minutes, is titled The Heist. It is a satanic matrix featuring the good guys versus the bad guys, said Susanne Allen-Spiers, HHS visual and media arts department head, who together with teacher Jennifer Pogue was instrumental in bringing the film festival to reality.

“A board-wide film festival did take place for about five years at the Gravenhurst Opera House and in Bracebridge but, last year, it didn’t happen as the co-ordinator retired,” Allen-Spiers explained.

“I worked with Suzanne Riverin and the Huntsville Festival of the Arts on a mixed arts show at the theatre last year. It was met with rave reviews, so we followed up with the festival to see if there was an interest in doing something again.”

With support coming from Reel Alternatives and the Huntsville Festival of the Arts, which are subsidizing the rental of the theatre for the evening, the Grade 11 and 12 media class got busy.

“Past shows featured long and short movies, but we decided to go very short. We got enough material to put a film show together and we invited other schools to take part,” said Allen-Spiers, adding that as a result six schools from Muskoka, Lindsay, Haliburton and Almaguin are participating.

Each film had to have a message about the students’ world, or how they would like to change it. “We ended up with so much product, we had to cut some,” said Allen-Spiers.

Thirty films will be shown in the juried festival. Prizes will be awarded for the films that best communicate a message from the following categories: anti-smoking, respecting others, environmental, narrative with meaning, music video with meaning, and animation with meaning, plus an open category.

“One of our supporters is the Muskoka Simcoe District Health Unit, who helped with funding as part of their 'Stomp Out' anti-smoking program. High schools are given grants to get out the message to not smoke. As such, we have created a category for anti-smoking,” said Pogue.

Judges from the local media and film industry will evaluate the films based on the idea of the message they portray and the technical aspects and execution of the film in delivering that message.

“Staples has donated the grand prize,” Pogue said.

The evening also features a short talk from guest speaker Max Attwood, a young HHS graduate and former Reel Alternatives scholarship recipient, who went on to start a career in the film industry.

He is currently working as an editor and second unit cinematographer on Season 3 of the Survivorman series.

“I will be going on two shoots this season, the Arctic or Iceland and Wabakimi Park, which is as far north as you can go in Ontario,” said Attwood.

Attwood took media arts in Grade 12 at HHS, but his love of the camera began long before that. “I bought my first video camera when I was 14. I always loved cameras and my friends and I would make movies for fun.”

Allen-Spiers recalls Attwood’s passion for film- making. “He did a whole documentary on the screaming heads in Almaguin,” she said.

After graduating from film and video production at Canadore College, Attwood joined Les Stroud Productions, where he has worked for the past two and a half years.

Attwood’s presentation will also include some of his own work. “I’ll be showing two clips from Survivorman, because that’s the most recent thing I have done,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pogue hopes that the film festival in this new format will be well received and will continue to grow.

“Right now the generation of students learning media and its effects are very interested. Ours is a very successful course that has grown over the last couple of years,” she said.

Tickets for the show are $10 each and can be purchased in advance at the Algonquin Theatre box office, 789-4975, or at the door.

High school students’ short films will convey message about their world at May 15 show

(The following article originally appeared in The Huntsville Forester on May 7, 2008.)

Media students from high schools in the Trillium Lakeland District School Board and beyond will be participating in a student film festival being held at the Algonquin Theatre on May 15 at 7 p.m.

The event is supported by Reel Alternatives Huntsville and the Huntsville Festival of the Arts and is being hosted by Huntsville High School.

Participation is expected from schools in Huntsville, Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Orillia and South River.

The theme of the festival is Short Films with a Message, featuring student work that conveys a message about their world, or how they would like to change the world. Films will be between one minute and four minutes in length.

Prizes will be awarded for the films that best communicate a message from the following categories: anti-smoking, respecting others, environmental, narrative with meaning, music video with meaning, and animation with meaning. There will also be an open category.

Judges from the local media and film industry will evaluate the films based on the idea of the message they portray and the technical aspects and execution of the film in delivering that message.

The evening will feature a short talk from guest speaker Max Attwood, a young HHS graduate and former Reel Alternatives scholarship recipient who went on to start a career in the film industry. He is currently involved in the Survivorman series.

Attwood’s presentation will also include some of his own works, following which there will be a viewing of submitted student films.

Tickets for the event are $10 each and can be purchased in advance at the Algonquin Theatre Box Office, 789-4975, or at the door.

Reel Alternatives and the Huntsville Festival of the Arts are subsidizing the rental of the theatre for the evening, and are donating any net proceeds to the Huntsville High School media arts program.

Everyone is invited to come out on May 15 and support the efforts of talented students in what promises to be a very entertaining evening.

Festival, theatre seek hospitality crews

(The following article originally appeared in The Huntsville Forester on May 7, 2008.)

Whether you can help with one show or five shows, your effort counts. Everybody can make a contribution.

For those who may be looking for ways to support their community and have fun at the same time, volunteering for the Huntsville Festival of the Arts and the Algonquin Theatre may be the answer.

A volunteer sign-up evening has been organized in the Partners Hall of the Algonquin Theatre tomorrow, Thursday, May 8 starting at 7 p.m. The evening is being hosted jointly by the festival and the theatre.

As front-of-house volunteers and ushers are fully staffed at this time, this call for volunteers is directed specifically at those individuals who want to provide services either backstage on the production crew, or as part of a hospitality team which provides support and services to the artists while they are in the theatre.

Volunteers are tremendously important. Without them, neither the festival nor the theatre would be able to function. The payback for those willing to help is the enjoyment and sense of satisfaction they receive from participating in the delivery of each of the evening’s performances at a professional level for which the festival and theatre have become well known.

HELP WANTED: Sheila Petch, left, joins Wil and Carol Gibson during a volunteer appreciation event held recently at the Algonquin Theatre. Volunteers are being sought to help with backstage and hospitality duties over the busy months ahead. In addition to volunteering at the theatre, Carol serves on the Huntsville Festival of theArts board of directors.

Volunteers working backstage do all the little things required to make the show seem seamless from the audience’s viewpoint. They help focus lights, load equipment, run cables and help the artists become familiar with the theatre space. Volunteers also manage the stage and rub shoulders with some of this country’s finest performers.

Hospitality volunteers help in the artists’ dressing rooms, tending to their needs and making sure they have food and fluids.

Most importantly, volunteers become part of the performance. They’re the ones who allow the show to go on.

Whether you can help with one show or five shows, your effort counts. If you can’t lift a heavy cabinet, maybe you can help with sound check, or cut up fruit and vegetables in preparation for the artists’ arrival. Everybody can make a contribution.

Representatives from the various volunteer positions will be in Partners Hall on May 8 to answer questions, explain potential duties and review the 2008 summer lineup.

Come on out and join a great team. Those who are interested but unable to attend the sign-up evening should contact Chris Boon at 789-1751 ext. 2249 or Rob Saunders at 788-2787.

Popular May Marché already a sold-out event

(The following article originally appeared in The Huntsville Forester on April 30, 2008.)

By Ross Kirwin, HFA Director

This year, the Huntsville Festival of the Arts (HFA) will be celebrating its 16th season and its eighth major spring fundraiser known as the May Marché.

The May Marché is now considered one of the most popular social events of the year, and tickets for this year’s event have already sold out.

Deerhurst Resort will be our host again on Friday, May 23, at 7 p.m. in the grand Waterhouse ballroom. The event is being sponsored, in part, by Polar Bear Diamonds, who have combined with local jeweller Ron Henry Jewellers to donate a beautiful diamond pendant, valued at $5,700, for raffle. As well, the silent auction tables will be laden with a cornucopia of items, the best Huntsville has to offer.

Many of the vendors from last year will be returning. These include Seven Main Café, Bartlett Lodge, The Fiery Grill, Delta Grandview, HV Resort, Aroma, On The Docks Pub, Port Cunnington Lodge, Spencer Tall Trees, Three Guys and a Stove, Sleeman Ale, Steam Whistle Brewery, Cilento Wines, Henry of Pelham Winery, Kittling Ridge, Pellar Estates and Muskoka Lakes Winery. New this year are Blackburn’s Steakhouse, Reif Estate Winery, Jackson Triggs, La Dolce Vita Trattoria and Huntsville High School (HHS).

We promise a memorable evening for all who have purchased their tickets in anticipation of an evening that will start the summer season on a very high note.

The May Marché is already sold out, says HFA director Ross Kirwin, who promises it will be a memorable evening.

The Huntsville Festival of the Arts is a registered charity and all proceeds from the May Marché will be used to support the performing arts in our community.

We continue to support initiatives such as scholarships, training in the performing arts, theatre funding for HHS, public school projects, performances and live theatre.

With the building of the Algonquin Theatre came the opportunity for the festival to provide entertainment year round. So as not to forget our roots, we continue to celebrate each July with a different show each night for two weeks. This year is no exception. Our jazz festival held its debut last year and was such a huge success that we are doing it again this year.

It has been an exciting time for me, having arrived in Huntsville a little over four years ago and expecting to put my feet up and quietly retire. Shortly after the theatre was built, I joined the Huntsville Festival of the Arts board of directors and as co-chair of the May Marché, my time with the festival has been an eye-opening experience, which has made my short time in Huntsville a very rewarding one.

I have enjoyed every minute of my work with the festival and have discovered that this community is one of a kind. The arts community is vibrant across Muskoka and nowhere more so than in Huntsville.

The continued strong support of our community is what makes Huntsville so successful in attracting newcomers and tourists, as well as providing the youth of this community the opportunity to enhance their lives through the wonders of the arts.

Our summer ’08 line-up is on the festival website and we are currently conducting a survey to see how we can make the arts programs in our town even better. Please check both out at www.huntsvillefestival.on.ca.

See you at the May Marché and thank you for your continued strong support.

Young artists will be performing Sunday

(The following article originally appeared in The Huntsville Forester on April 30, 2008.)

Huntsville’s Ashley Hill shares stage with gifted Royal Conservatory of Music classical artists

Mark Sunday, May 4, as an opportunity to hear some exceptional young classical artists in concert at Huntsville’s Algonquin Theatre.

The Young Artists’ Performance Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto will present an afternoon of excellent music, featuring a number of solo performances.

Twenty-four of the academy’s most gifted students will be visiting Huntsville, but for one of their members it will represent a trip back home.

Ashley Hill, a young Huntsville artist who honed her skills at the Huntsville Suzuki School of Music and in the Huntsville High School music program, has been attending the performance academy for the past year. Her commitment has involved trips to Toronto every Friday afternoon in time for lessons Friday evening, followed by an intensive day of classes and practice each Saturday.

LOCAL TALENT: Ashley Hill, a young Huntsville artist, will be appearing in concert at the Algonquin Theatre Sunday, along with 23 other gifted members of the Yound Artists' Performance Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Combine this commitment with certain school challenges and a regular work schedule and you can appreciate that she is one busy young woman.

The Huntsville Festival of the Arts is presenting the Royal Conservatory students primarily because of the link with Hill. “I was in the theatre lobby one day and Ashley was buying tickets to a show. When she was finished she asked if the festival had any room on its schedule to present a concert featuring her classmates,” recalled festival general manager Rob Saunders.

“I had just finished booking the spring season and my first thought was that we were full. However, when I got home I e-mailed the Conservatory contact and quickly came to an agreement.”

He continued: “Ashley has been a festival scholarship recipient at every age level and it just seemed so appropriate to provide an opportunity to have her come home and showcase both her skills and the skills of the talented students she is working with.”

Saunders next contacted Amanda Penner at the Huntsville Suzuki School to make sure there were no conflicts with their programming. “As part of the festival’s ongoing outreach program, we offered to donate net proceeds from the concert to assist the Suzuki School in their ongoing efforts.”

The Young Artists’ Performance Academy provides the ideal nurturing environment for committed, gifted, young classical musicians to perfect their performance skill, musicality and artistic excellence. Working together with world-class faculty and acclaimed guest artists, academy students share high-calibre musical experiences and celebrate each other in achieving an outstanding level of musicianship.

The academy is designed for gifted and dedicated musicians looking to challenge and refine their unique talents. They believe that young talent, expertly trained, can become great talent and that a nurturing, yet challenging creative environment produces disciplined, well-rounded artists. Surprisingly, they do not get many opportunities to perform outside the GTA and both the school directors and the students are thrilled about Sunday’s concert in Huntsville.

“We plan on featuring a number of our recent competition winners in the program,” said academy manager Alicia White. “The program will be very approachable with works by J.S. Bach, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Rachmaninoff and Haydn.”

The concert will start at 2 p.m. and run for about 90 minutes. Adult tickets are $15 and there is special price of $2 for youth under 12, to encourage aspiring young artists to come and listen to these prodigies.

Tickets are available at the box office, by calling 789-4975, or online at www.huntsvillefestival.on.ca.