News Article

Ryan J. Smith first student to have independent film picked for Nickel Fest


5/13/2011 1:31:52 PM


Filmmaker Ryan J. Smith with one of the set pieces he created and used as part of the set in his film “The Gagalon” being screened at this year’s Nickel Film Festival in June 2011.

By Frank Gale

Reprinted with permission from The Western Star
(Published May 9, 2011)


Ryan J. Smith believes the more hours put into every piece an artist produces, the better the quality the finished product will be.

The filmmaker, who has spent the last two years in Stephenville completing the film and video production program at College of the North Atlantic, had that philosophy payoff recently when he learned one of his films has been accepted into the 2011 Nickel Film Festival.

What’s unique about this honour, is in the 10-plus years the public college has offered multimedia based education programs, he is the first student to have an independent film, entitled “The Gagalon” accepted in the Nickel.

Founded in 2001 in St. John’s, the 11th Annual Nickel Independent Film Festival will screen films from Canada and around the world including Ireland, France, United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, South Korea, Australia and the United States, along with 21 homegrown productions from within the province. With a reputation for presenting quality films from established and emerging artists, this young and energetic festival is leading the charge in the development of the province’s indigenous film industry.

What makes Smith’s film unique is it was produced from several different mediums — from acrylic prints to paper maches. He worked on the video for a year, from conceptualizing it during the second term of his first year — to the final editing in November 2010.

Smith, who is originally from Triton moved to Mount Pearl when he was three years old, is a graduate of Herdman Collegiate in Corner Brook.
He graduated from the film and video production program this spring and is currently a summer intern at the college for student intercession, where he is working on a short film.

While he’s the first student to have an independent film in the Nickel, class projects from College of the North Atlantic’s programs have also been featured in the festival.

Last year an entry from the film and video production program called “Weather People” made it to the festival. There was also a film called “Nan versus Nature” by the digital animation group featured and this year the film and video production’s intercession project from last year, entitled “The Auditions” is to be featured in addition to the digital animation project from last year.

“So College of the North Atlantic is starting to make a presence with acceptances into the festival lineup,” Smith said.

In April there was another film festival in St. John’s entitled Sci-Fi on the Rock, which had it’s first showing featuring Newfoundland films and Smith was pleased to have a short documentary entitled “The Art of Craft” feature there.

His final film project before graduation was “Off the Hook,” which featured puppets and scenes made entirely from scratch. Smith plans on submitting that as an entry for next year’s Nickel.

Seeing his work featured in film festivals is encouraging to Smith as an independent artist. He said such honours gets the word “out there” about his work and gives a certain degree of credibility to what he does.

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