Film Co-Created by Trinity Alum Reaches Competition Finals

Oneida Baxhia, Trinity alum Samyuktha Movva and Shahen Yashpal made a film about water conservation with alumnus Lucas Jaryd Iringan Te, not pictured (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Four University of Toronto students and alumni are calling attention to water conservation through their short film (In)Finite. Created for the We Art Water Film Festival, an international competition run every two years, the film is one of 37 finalists. The festival is organized by We Are Water, a foundation committed to advocating for better accessibility, conservation and sanitation of water around the world.

In(Finite), created by U of T’s Lucas Jaryd Iringan Te (Woodsworth College), Oneida Baxhia (Victoria College), Shahen Yashpal (New College) and Trinity alum Samyuktha Movva, explores how water scarcity is an issue most Torontonians do not consider. Through their film, the group shows how as Canadians we often take our access to fresh water for granted. Set predominantly at the U of T campus, In(Finite) is the first Canadian film in the history of the We Art Water festival to be selected as a finalist.

Trinity alum Samyuktha Movva, one of the film’s creators, discusses the important issues the film raises, and how this group of U of T alumni and students got together to create it.

How did the group come together to make the film?

The four of us have known each other the past few years as friends and classmates through the life sciences programs at U of T. We all have a strong passion for film, and we’ve naturally always wanted to try our hand at filmmaking, but never seemed to find the right opportunity. As recent graduates, we thought now would be the perfect time to finally apply our unique experiences and create something meaningful to share with the world. I’ve acted in film and theatre, Jaryd has experience with cinematography and editing, Oneida came full of ideas for the story, and Shahen was excited to make his acting debut. It ultimately proved to be a truly collaborative process, with each of us contributing important ideas and artistic choices that were essential to shaping the final version of the film.

What inspired the narrative of the film?

The prompt of the film festival was relatively open ended, so long as the film addressed issues related to water. We wanted to approach the film from a perspective that is reflective of our daily lives here in Toronto, where we’re incredibly fortunate to have access to safe, clean drinking water, given Canada’s abundance of freshwater. The central concern regarding many of those living in developed countries can be that we often take our ready access to water for granted. We wanted to depict a creature of habit (like so many of us are!), comfortable in his routine – and oblivious to those little instances of water wastage that eventually add up – until his routine is disrupted, and he’s forced to go without water for a moment. The medium of film is great in that we get to use the camera to direct the audience’s attention exactly where we want it, and that’s something that helped us create an ambiguous ending. It was really important to us that we leave the audience with something to think about, especially about their own actions, and to make up their own minds about whether or not the protagonist of our film is capable of making a change.

In this digital age, we have so much information at our fingertips and our indifference to major world issues such as the water crisis can’t always be forgiven by a supposed lack of awareness. We wanted to highlight the fact that we are constantly being reminded to monitor our water usage (for example, the University of Toronto doesn’t sell plastic water bottles on campus and the recent Cape Town water crisis was also featured heavily on the news). This of course begs the question we’d like to leave the audience with – what will it ultimately take for us to change our actions for the better?

How did you hear about the We Art Water Film Festival?

I’ve always been keen on creating art that is socially conscious, something that has the power to enact change and raise awareness about important issues affecting society by approaching these questions in a compelling way. Around the same time that we decided to come together to create a film, the water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa was at a critical point. While reading about that water crisis and water issues in general, I came across the We Art Water Film Festival, luckily a month before the deadline, giving us just enough time to join heads and put the film together. We were immediately motivated by the Foundation’s mission to raise awareness about a very important message and we were eager to do our part in helping that cause, while putting all those years of watching films to the test.

Why is We Are Water’s mandate so important?

The We Are Water Foundation is committed to developing projects in countries around the world to guarantee access to water and sanitation. The Foundation also strives to raise awareness about issues related to water, in order to promote a culture that allows for sustainable management of water resources. There is an urgent global water crisis happening right now and it isn’t going to get any better without us taking deliberate actions to help create change. The human right to safe drinking water has been recognized by the United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council, but approximately 1.8 billion people still only have access to contaminated water sources. The numbers are truly astounding as they currently stand, but it’s thanks to the efforts of organizations such as the We Are Water Foundation that we are making our way towards a future where we might ensure access to safe drinking water for everyone.

What was it like to make the film?

There were a lot of instances during the process of making the film where we nearly gave up because it just seemed too difficult for us to pull off. There was a huge learning curve involved, considering we each had little to no experience with all the logistics of filmmaking. But there were those little satisfying eureka moments that helped to keep us going – from coming up with the right narrative choices to keep the story moving forward, having the opportunity to rent professional equipment from the Hart House Film Board, finding the best locations to serve the story, and managing to set up the perfect shots! It turned out to be an incredibly rewarding experience due to the very challenges that had us doubting ourselves in the first place. We’re immensely grateful to have made it this far with our film and we really hope that our story might inspire others to take up something that they’ve always wanted to do, no matter how daunting it may seem at the outset! We also hope the film will encourage our audience to be more mindful about how they use water in their daily lives, because each little action taken towards a more sustainable lifestyle really does count in the long term!

In(Finite) is also in the running for the festival’s audience favourite award, which is won by the film that receives the greatest number of public votes. Voting closes on June 1st!

Categories: Alumni