Concordia’s Cinema Students’ Association (CSA) will receive a $1,000 special grant from the Concordia Student Union (CSU) to run its annual Year-End Screening.
The CSA was budgeted to receive $2,500 in club funding, half the amount they got last year. However, since they missed the CSU’s deadline to request funding, the CSA was ineligible for that amount. The internal fraud at the CSU made new funding even more difficult.
Fortin was quick to absolve the CSU of blame for the lack of funds. She said that the responsibility lies within her association as well as the department.
“Patrice Blais and Rob Green understand our situation and we will be considered a special project since we missed the deadline,” said Marie-Eve Fortin, president of the CSA.
The CSA is responsible for organizing the Year-End Screening, a film festival held in May where films created by the cinema department are showcased.
“This will be the 28th year Concordia has held the Year-End Screening,” said Fortin. “It gives us the opportunity to present to the public what Concordia’s students produce during the year.”
Fortin estimates the festival will cost the CSA $3,500. Last year’s association came in over budget by $900 – which Fortin now owes the department.
Fortin said she is trying to find money anywhere. “We’ve held a party (to raise funds). I’m also asking the Concordia Council on Student Life, the Rector’s Cabinet, as well as Alumni to donate money.”
The CSA’s costs will be kept at a minimum this year. Funds enable the association to provide cinema students with materiel the school does not offer. It pays the projectionists, and promotes the students and the films.
By hosting such an event that is open to the public, Fortin believes that students and the department are getting their faces (and their films) known in a very competitive industry.
Several other universities in this city hold screenings for one night only. Concordia’s cinema department prides itself on presenting three days of screenings.
“About seventy films will be screened this year,” said Fortin. Students in various years of study produce different types of films. All first year students must create a film, whereas only select students in their second and third year of studies do so. The department then selects the best films within a certain category and these are the ones presented during the Year-End Screening. This festival is an informal gathering and a celebration for students.
“If we had more money, our goal would be to have a special night to project the top films and invite many people from the industry,” said Fortin.
She added that as it stands, the festival is open to the public, but there is no specific formal evening for mingling and making contacts.
Fortin would also add the creation of a cinema journal to her wish list. Since the production students are heavily involved with the film festival, the journal could keep students in film studies busy. In turn, Fortin believes that students in all areas of study in the department could work together.
The Year-End Screening will be held May 10-12.
