(January 16, 2017 – Toronto, ON) A new animated short by a relative newcomer to filmmaking is being given a high profile premiere thanks to a special project and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). First of all the filmmaker is Kjell Boersma, a graduate of Ryerson University’s Film Studies program. He’s worked on broadcast animation and feature documentaries, music videos, experimental modern dance films, and short films. He also worked with artists and filmmakers in the Navajo Nation at Gallup, New Mexico on a short titled Monster Slayer, which is a contemporary retelling of the Navajo story of the Hero Twins.
Enter the TSO Canada Mosaic project. It’s a pan-Canadian signature project of Canada 150. It began with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) announcing a national call for filmmakers to submit a proposal for a commissioned children’s short film. The condition of the commission was that the final film could have no embedded sound and a live orchestra would play all the accompanying sound and music. The screening is part of the TSO’s Lights Camera…Orchestra! program.
The jury selected Kjell Boersma’s project DAM! The Story of Kit the Beaver and paired him with film composer Erica Procunier to create a score and sound design for the film. The animated short is a lively and fun film aimed at children and families alike. The story is about a young eager beaver that gets easily distracted by the sounds of the forest around her and gets into a variety of adventures while building a dam.
Producer Josh Clavir (Dim the Fluorescents) was brought in along with Co-Producer Mark Jones of Seneca’s School of Creative Arts and Animation Summer Institute program. Seneca’s animation program is best known for producing the Academy Award-Winning film Ryan. Art Director Julie Flett is an award-winning author, illustrator and artist who has received the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize and was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature.
The World Premiere of DAM! The Story of Kit the Beaver with a live by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will take place on Saturday February 25, 2017 at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall.
