From animation to live-action shorts, St. Clair College students, graduates, staff members and faculty have produced several films that are set to appear at the 22nd annual Windsor International Film Festival.
Between Oct. 29 and Nov. 8, the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) will take place in multiple theatres in downtown Windsor, showing 232 feature films from 55 different countries.
The local contingent features 53 films, including 6 features and 47 short films which are scheduled across six distinct blocks.
"It's great to see the community show up for a local film festival," said Vincent Georgie, the executive director and chief programmer of WIFF. "I think it's an indicator of the level of talent in Windsor and I think Windsor gets behind people and Windsor likes to see Windsor stories up on screen. And this year, genuinely, was an embarrassment of riches on the local film side."
Georgie said this is by far the most local films that have been selected to run by a panel of external adjudicators during WIFF.
"And seeing that it's coming from grads of the journalism and film program, grads of your animation program, those are good indicators," Georgie added.
Marta Vs. The Bugs
St. Clair College Video Production Technologist Michael Poirier is no stranger to WIFF. He submitted a full feature entry two years ago (Thundersnake), and this time around, Poirier wrote and directed a submission in the local short category, Marta vs. The Bugs.
"Marta Vs. The Bugs was filmed over nine short days, but in that time the cast and crew became my second family," said Poirier.
It's a tale of a young woman who is incredibly confident but has a crippling phobia of bugs. The story is based on one of Poirier's former roommates, Clara Benedek (a graduate of the Media Convergence program at St. Clair College) and details how two roommates deal with that phobia.
"The film is about two very different people learning to overcome their differences, and turn their fears into strengths," said Poirier, who also turned to students and graduates at St. Clair when it came time for casting.
Graphic Design graduate Laura Naranjo Calderón plays the leading role of Marta, while Sarah Eby, a current student in the Music Theatre Performance program, plays Beverly.
"Working on Marta Vs. the Bugs was the most fun I've ever had on a project, and at the same time my first opportunity portraying a challenging character that I ended up loving and also missing! I would love to play Marta again in the future," said Calderon, who hails from Medellín, Colombia. "I cannot wait to hear the audience laughing and having fun with these characters, knowing that every single person behind this film poured life into it every day off and on set."
"Working on Marta vs. The Bugs was an unforgettable experience that I am lucky enough to call my first-ever film project," said Sarah Eby of Kitchener, Ont. "I am honoured to have worked alongside such a talented cast and crew, learning lessons I will carry throughout my acting career."
"I look forward to attending WIFF and being able to discover more short films, connect with fellow artists, and celebrate our wonderful film," Eby added.
Shahad Al-Haddad, a graduate of the Fashion Design program at St. Clair College, was the lead cinematographer and said the group quickly grew attached to the script.
"We all became like a big family, whether we had ups or downs, we were able to adapt so well, and work like a well-oiled machine. It was pretty incredible," Al-Haddad said.
The film has also had great success on the film festival circuit, already claiming top prize for best comedy film at the Kitchener Waterloo International Film Festival (KWIFF), nominated for best international comedy short film at the International Comedy and Art Festival (TICAFF), best narrative short at the Chicago Indie Film Awards, and are official selections at the Commffest Global Community Film Festival as well as WIFF.
"This one was a lot of hard work, put together by very talented people who were very dedicated to their craft, and it truly showed with the reception we got at KWIFF/TICAFF/TINFF in Toronto," said Al-Haddad. "The audience laughing at all the jokes and getting the punchlines was the best part about it, and we ended up snagging the win there, so it was a lot of fun!"
The film will be screened on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 9:20 p.m. at the Kelly - Capitol Theatre as part of WIFF local shorts, block five.
GENIUS vs. GENIUS
A duo of Animation 2D/3D graduates from St. Clair College, Katrina Incitti and Ela Angermann, made this short film while advancing their education at Munster Technological University in Ireland.
The 2D animated short film, which runs for 11 minutes, is about two young genius rivals who compete to see who has the best robot. During the final face-off, their bots go rogue, and they're forced to work together to stop them. It's a film with the ultimate message of collaboration over competition.
"It was so much fun and so much work," said Incitti, co-animator in the film. "Ela and I created the story and characters together. We were inspired to make a film about collaboration over competition because that's such an important theme in our lives as artists. We (artists) tend to view our peers as competition, when we should really be trying to collaborate and learn from each other."
Incitti acted as the lead animator and Angermann handled effects animation while they completed the film as part of a school project over a period of eight months.
"The process of making the film was arduous. It was also very fun and very insightful. I learned a lot throughout the process," said Angermann. "Both Kat and I had previous experience making short films thanks to our time at St. Clair producing our solo final films."
"This was incredibly helpful as it gave us some idea of the massive amount of work we would be expecting for the project we wanted to make, as well as a solid base idea of the animation production pipeline which we then used to create our various production schedules throughout the production period."
The pair credits their time at St. Clair College with many of the foundational skills they utilized in production of the short movie.
"All my animation knowledge comes from St. Clair, as I hadn't animated anything prior to starting there in 2021," said Incitti. "Another skill is my ability to animate using rigged characters, since our second year 2D animation class at St. Clair was very focused on rigged animation, which is what's most popular in the industry right now."
"They have always brought a great deal of creativity and energy to every project they worked on. As students, they would often go well beyond the project's requirements, to create more than just academic assignments, but little personal art pieces," said Prof. Richard Moy of the Animation 2D/3D program. "Their passion and talent are now on full display in their collaborative film GENIUS vs GENIUS. All their Animation professors are incredibly proud of what they have accomplished and are eager to see their future success."
The film is also making its rounds on the festival circuit, with stops at the Chatham Kent International Film Festival, Montreal Women in Film Festival, and at WIFF.
"I would recommend that anyone who is considering starting a creative project, whether of this scale or otherwise, should absolutely do it," said Angermann. "It will be an excellent experience and opportunity for connection and growth, be that as a person or plain and simple, in relation to your artistic skills."
The film will be screened on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 9:20 p.m. at the Kelly - Capitol Theatre as part of WIFF local shorts, block five.
12 Hour Labour
This film is a collaborative effort by students in the Journalism program at St. Clair College, led by director, Natalie Rainhard. It's about a world overrun with the walking dead, where one mother is doing everything she can to keep herself and her daughter, Ryan, alive. However, once she's bitten, she now only has twelve hours left to tell her daughter and make sure she can survive the wasteland all on her own.
Rainhard was the writer, director and an editor on the film, which was a class project where every student in the film class played a role in production.
"It's honestly super exciting that my film is going to be included in this year's selection for WIFF Local," said Rainhard. "I've always loved going to film festivals and seeing the time and effort involved in every project shown, so mine being up there is something I'm very proud of."
Ken Amlin, an instructor from the program, assisted with all aspects of production and with the help of industry friend and local director, Gavin Michael Booth, secured shooting locations for the three-day shoot.
"This story was rather personal to me as I am a massive lover of horror movies," said Rainhard. "I find them very enjoyable as the themes and story are always deeper than most people think."
However, Rainhard noticed a theme in horror movies – especially apocalypse stories – that the women are "essentially props."
"You could replace them with a dog and the plot wouldn't change. The men are the strong leaders. If you're a woman in a horror movie, you either die in the opening or are pregnant and then eventually die in childbirth," she said. "So, I wrote a story where the woman was the one in charge."
"My goal is to make people feel something. In high school I was told that if a story can make you feel any sort of emotion, good or bad, it means you've made a personal connection with the viewer," Rainhard added.
The movie will be screened during WIFF local shorts block three, at the Kelly – Capitol Theatre on Nov. 1 at 7:45.
Strange Tales of the South Shore
Speaking of Ken Amlin, the local director and college instructor will have a chance to screen the Strange Tales of the South Shore during Hallowe'en at WIFF.
The original series highlights the rich folklore of Canada's Southernmost communities —with a focus on the eerie of Erie. Each episode examines a fantastic, and often unexplained or unsolved event.
Including stories from Boblo Island, the infamous Baldoon Mystery, and fan-favourite, Texas Road, these true stories have been passed down through generations and have shaped our region.
The series will be screened at the OLG Pentastar – Capitol Theatre on Oct. 31, 2026, at 8:35 p.m.