Sault student wins two awards at Windsor International Film Festival

As a St. Paul Catholic School student in Sault Ste. Marie in 2015, Evan Johnson played the hero in a locally produced film titled Heroes of a Different Kind: Rise of The Dark Panther.

Now 20, Johnson has followed up on that experience in a big way.

Currently in his third year of study in the University of Windsor’s concurrent education program and majoring in communication, media and film, Johnson and a group of fellow students recently won two awards at the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) held between Oct. 26 and Nov. 5.

Johnson’s group — billing themselves as ‘The All-Stars’  — won awards for best cinematography and best use of character at WIFF for their film Number 2.

Johnson worked on the film as co-director and assistant camera.

“Through being here, my friends and I in the film program heard about WIFF, and every year there’s a segment in the festival called the 48-Hour FlickFest where basically you have two days to make a short film to get screened at the festival,” Johnson told SooToday.

“48 hours is all you have. There’s a deadline. Along with the 48-hour time constraint they give you a character, a line of dialogue and a prop that has to be in your film.”

With that, Johnson and his colleagues got their creative juices flowing and produced Number 2 for the festival.

“Our character’s name is Parker Fudge. He is a chocolatier and he is obsessed with pickleball. He’s in his early 20s,” Johnson said.

Johnson has worked on two films in Windsor, stating that’s one reason why the film is entitled Number 2.

“If you watch the film, Number 2 has got another meaning,” he laughed.

“It’s definitely my first time getting such recognition for filmmaking,” Johnson said, though he is quick to add the awards were for the entire Number 2 team and the result of solid teamwork.

“It was a 100 per cent group effort. They deserve all the recognition in the world. It isn’t just me.”

“We’ve been making films together for three years now through school, but this was the first year where our skills really came together in 48 hours and pulled it off to win these awards,” Johnson said.

Working with Johnson on Number 2 as director of photography was his longtime friend and fellow Sault native Sam Rosso, who participated in Heroes of a Different Kind: Rise of The Dark Panther at St. Paul School and who is also studying in the University of Windsor’s film program.

“We bring the best out of each other. We’re always pushing each other,” Johnson said.

“I always had an interest in making films when I was growing up in the Sault and that was a heavy influence on why I decided to go and study film here at Windsor.”

Johnson also works as a videographer for the University of Windsor’s sports teams.

“I’m hoping to end up in sports media but I want to get my teaching degree.”

“That’s a stable position,” Johnson said with a chuckle, but filmmaking is his passion. 

“For me, making films is being able to convey an emotion on screen that people can relate to and getting a reaction to it. I enjoy the hard work you put into it and then watching people relate to it and enjoy what you’ve put out.”

A cash prize of $100 was given to Johnson’s group for each of the two awards won at WIFF.

He's confident the recognition by WIFF will advance his career in filmmaking.

Johnson is already well on his way to being a pro filmmaker, so SooToday asked if he has any advice to share with other film lovers considering a career in the film industry.

“If you love it, you should do it,” he said.

“Don’t worry about all the other stuff. Don’t worry about money. If it’s something you really love and enjoy doing it, put the time into it because if you work hard and stay consistent, things will work out.”

The award winning All-Stars team includes six crew and two actors, all third-year students at Windsor:

• film production majors Clay Leblanc, producer and co-director, and sound recordist Gwyneth Roy;
• communications, media, and film majors Evan Johnson, co-director and assistant camera, director of photography Sam Rosso, editor Kendra Schmidt, and art director Olivia Patricia;
• and the actors, computer science major Zach Ublansky and acting major Rylan Thomas.

A preview of Number 2 can be seen on YouTube.