The Kinorino student film festival, supported by the cinEXmedia partnership, held its first kino-type evening in September.
Lou Andrysiak
On 28 September more than 150 people gathered at Ausgang Plaza in Montreal for the very first kino-type screening of the Kinorino festival, a non-profit organisation supported by the cinEXmedia partnership. This was the third event organised by the student film festival since it was founded in 2022.
Inspired by the formula of Kino Montréal, Kinorino gave participants a week to produce, film and edit tailor-made short films with their own resources on a given theme. These student films were shown not only at Ausgang Plaza, but are also available online on the organisation’s website.
At this evening event viewers were also invited to vote for their favourite film. Winners received trophies and gift cards courtesy of Cinéma Moderne and the Cinémathèque québécoise. Following the awards ceremony, a networking session was held so that participants could exchange ideas about their shared passion.
Enthusiastic Young Filmmakers
The evening screening unfolded to warm applause in an ambience of palpable good humour.
Ethan Bautista, a first-year undergraduate student in cinema studies at Concordia University, presented his film The Rock of Saint Louis, made with his colleagues Keith Moussa and Eugenia Castrillo. He was grateful that the festival was “so open, no matter what the level of study” of participants. This budding filmmaker also appreciated the evening’s format: It’s great to bring together students who love cinema and want to work together.”
Eugenia also liked the event a lot. “I enjoyed watching the different kinds of films and seeing the various ideas that people explored.” Keith, for his part, remarked that “it was really pleasant. I had never been to a festival like that before, it was a new experience.”
An “Unexpected Scale”
The Kinorino crew was also very satisfied with this third evening screening. For Yasmina Bouabid, a coordinator of the event and representative of Concordia cinema students, it was “a success for everyone.” “For sure people traded contact info,” she added.
Her colleague Camillo Mendoza, coordinator and representative of Université de Montréal cinema students, remarked enthusiastically that “Kinorino is now a part of student life.” “I really appreciated all the positive comments we received from people outside the event.”
“It has all taken on an unexpected scale,” Yasmina concludes. In the future, she plans on paying special attention to questions of representation and inclusion, particularly with respect to women’s position in the festival.
For his part, the project’s vice-president and manager, Jérémie Gravel, hopes to “expand the team so that the festival is better represented in universities,” a potentially necessary strategy, in the eyes of Vincent Ménard, the event’s director, given the festival’s growing size. “We threatened people a little, jokingly of course, that we would be obliged to continue these events and evenings this winter!”
