Zoom Student Film Festival (Zoom for short) is an annual event that exhibits the cinematography and film production of high school students, funded and hosted by Earl Haig Secondary School in Toronto, Canada since 1997. In the early years of the festival, submissions of films were only limited to Earl Haig students, but over the years the festival gradually began accepting citywide and, since this year, international film submissions to be screened on the night of the festival.

This year I was told that approximately 400 people showed up (a slightly higher attendance than last year’s 350) to the venue at Bloor Cinema, downtown Toronto. The atmosphere was relaxed with dimmed lights, classic furniture, and  faded carpeting, all of which seemed fitting for a building of great antiquity.

The evening began with a meet-n’-greet session with the judges and the filmmakers. Award winners were selected from among the screened films by judges from the industry, with the exception of the People’s Choice Award where the winner was selected by ballot submitted by the audience. Some of the judges are seen below.

According to his profile, Neil Foster (above), has been an actor for over 30 years, starring in films such as The Cinderella Man, Living Death, Twice in A Lifetime, and This is Wonderland. He says he “loves having the opportunity to experience the fresh ideas form the new talent and filmmakers of tomorrow.”

Ali Kamran (above) is a director of film and theater as well as a graphic artist and photographer. He was the Golden winner of the GRAPHIS Poster Annual in New York in 2007. I had a pleasant chat with him about the digital media industry.

The woman in the right of the picture (above) is Emmy winner, director and producer Patricia Rozema, whose film Six Gestures was nominated for a Grammy Award. Her other films include Grey Gardens, I’ve Heart the Mermaids Singing, Mansfield Park, and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. The man in the left is Walter Raemisch, the Staff Sponsor of Zoom and a technological studies teacher at Earl Haig Secondary School (My homeroom teacher!). It was fun working with him throughout this year.

Next came the screening of the films. I was impressed by the effort and complexity of some of them.

After the screening came the Judges’ deliberation and then the Awards Ceremony. Judges were on the stage to hand out awards.

Above is Olivier Dyason who works for the National Film Board of Canada Mediatheque.

Jenny Hacker, Executive in Charge of Development at CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Comedy hands Sharon Shahidi, the producer of Zoom 2010, an award for her screened film.

For simplicity sake, I’ve decided to post my thoughts about the Canon 7D in the original Canon 7D post here.