We are pleased to highlight a very talented student from our Film Production Program, Elene Mekete. She enlisted a roster of TFS students to help her realize an excerpt of a short film she wrote a few years ago. The resulting work won the Most Ambitious Film by a local Female Director for her piece “Handle with Care 2.0” at this year’s Toronto Urban Film Festival (TUFF)!

TUFF is Toronto’s subway film festival, which displays short films on Pattison Onestop subway platform screens across the Toronto transit system every September. The Festival reflects the city’s unique and fast-paced personality while providing an opportunity to showcase emerging filmmakers to an audience of over 1 million commuters.

Elene has seen the winning films displayed during her September commutes and decided to submit “Handle with Care 2.0” as her very first festival submission. The result was a great success for Elene. Despite describing her win as “surreal” (she is modest!), she is now afforded a great opportunity to be involved with Women In Film & Television (WIFT). The organization will allow her to further support films that offer diverse and interesting perspectives of women. “Handle with Care 2.0” came to fruition with a little help from her friends. TFS allowed her the use of camera and audio equipment, while faculty tuned her into logistics like permits and such. Fellow student Joe Parente assisted as Director of Photography, Matthew Sartori was her 1st Assistant Director/Audio and the male lead is Acting student Tristan Fredericks. They were only permitted to have 5 people on the subway to shoot, so the crew pulled it together to make it work.

We wish Elene all the best in her career in the film industry, whether with a conservatory program or another award winning project. She is off to an impressive start, and we look forward to seeing the extended version of “Handle with Care”.