Ghost Writer

I didn't think I’d sign up for the Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival again this year, but boy am I sure glad I did! Ghost Writer is the name of the short film I made with some of my classmates at Humber College. The journey started in September when I heard the Digi60 festival was running again. I was hesitant to sign up because I didn’t think I would have time to produce a short film while doing school. But deep down, I really wanted to create another film and collaborate with my fellow classmates. So the day before registration closed, I took a chance and signed up.

The next thing I did was reach out to my classmates, hoping some would be on board since we are all into making films (at least into editing). Many were interested and I quickly assembled a great crew. That’s when the fun began. We had pre-production meetings to go over the script, set, shot list, etc. I thought it would only be a one day shoot, but I was terribly wrong. We ended up filming for 3 days! It was a blast though and we all got to bond over making this film together.

Once production was over, then it was time for post-production. I had to help out virtually since I had to head back home to Ottawa for a bit. Getting the fine cut of our film done was surprisingly easy to do over video chat. Once we got our film to picture lock, that’s when we sent it to our colourist, who then sent the deliverables to me. Then I sent it off to Digi60, wishing for a great outcome. That's when even more fun stuff happened.

Throughout the month, I ended up getting lots of cool opportunities through Digi60 to promote their festival. I was invited to do a live virtual panel on “Filmmaking During COVID” alongside my fellow Familiar Strangers/Toi, Toi Toi director from the previous year. I had never done anything like that before but I had a blast talking about our journey making those two films. I was also invited to participate in Digi60’s Film Chats Podcast to talk more about filmmaking with other alumni filmmakers. That was also a first for me and I would love to do more podcasts in the future.
But the coolest opportunity I got was a live radio chat on CBC’s All in a Day with Alan Neal! They requested to talk to me about my film! I couldn’t believe it. I was so nervous, especially since it was a bit difficult to hear the questions through the phone. But I hope I did well and it was definitely one of the highlights of my year. You can have a listen to my interview by clicking the image below:

Finally, the day of the screening arrived and my team and I watched virtually at one of our teammates’ house. We had a great time watching the whole festival on the big projector while eating pizza and snacking on chips. Getting to watch our film on the big screen was definitely a cool experience, even though we weren’t at the actual venue. When it came time for the awards, we didn't know what to expect. We hoped we would win something, or at least get in the top 5 best films. And guess what………..WE DID!!! We saw our film up there with the other 4 best films and we went wild! It was such a great feeling seeing that our film won Top 5 Best Films at the Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival. This was also my second time getting in the top 5! I am very determined to make even more short films and hopefully, one day, win for best film. We are all determined to keep on filmmaking and I hope we can continue to make great films together that will someday make it to TIFF (hehe).

Here is the teaser for Ghost Writer. Full version will be available soon!

You can also enjoy all our bloopers!