Montreal beckons to a young Gibsons woman this weekend.
Lauren Grant is winging her way to the Quebec city to present her winning short film at the Montreal Film Festival.
Grant, 22, is a recent graduate of the University of British Columbia film production program. The short she will present is a 17-minute production Grant produced and edited for her graduation project.
Tomorrow Doesn't Look Good Either is about a group of four male friends and takes place over one day. The antics of the friends make one of their number realize he's outgrown the others.
When the short was shown at UBC, it garnered a people's choice award for the director, cinematographer, screenwriter and supporting actor of the film.
While Grant has always been passionate about the creative process, in high school she excelled in math and sciences. After a month at university, she realized her heart wasn't in the science department.
"I don't really want to do this, I thought at the time," Grant said.
Her mom, Barb Cochran, wasn't surprised when her daughter said she wanted to switch majors.
"As a little girl, Lauren would do things like write plays and have her friends at school act them out. She liked to organize people in these creative endeavours," Cochran reminisced.
Grant agrees. "I did acting as a kid and just got more and more involved in film making," she said.
Taking a week-long intensive camp in the Gulf Islands helped the young woman secure a spot in the UBC film program. Getting into the program is difficult; only 15 people are accepted each year.
For students not making the UBC program, there are several other film courses in the Lower Mainland. Simon Fraser University and Emily Carr both have similar programs. And, according to Grant, Capilano College also has a very good program. If money is no object, the Vancouver Film School also has a 10-month program.
Grant has been getting a lot of experience over the past few years. Last year she worked as a set designer on a feature length film, Ill Fated. That Canadian independent film is going to the Toronto Film Festival.
Grant also had an internship with renowned Canadian documentary filmmaker, John Zaritsky. The resulting documentary she helped make will air on the documentary channel in January and later in the year on CBC.
After Grant returns from Montreal, she'll be moving to Vancouver. She's applied for production co-ordinator and producer's assistant positions.
"It's definitely a who-you-know profession," Grant said. "Fortunately some of my professors at UBC still have their hands in the business and have helped me."
For now, though, she's looking forward to spending Aug. 29 to Sept. 7 in Montreal and the contacts she'll make there.
