Film alum Dylan Duff’s short film in consideration for Canadian Screen Awards

The short film Terry, directed, written and co-produced by 2025 Film graduate Dylan Duff, is in consideration for three Canadian Screen Awards.

Duff said the short film is about one night in the life of a child of divorce. The film was inspired by his own experience and came to fruition because of participation from people he met during his time at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) — the project even received funding from the Society of the Creative School.

Duff had just had his wisdom teeth removed, and was recovering when he got the news that the film was in consideration for Best Live Action Short, as well as Performance in a Live Action Short for both of its stars, Kira Guloien and Lennox Blue Powell.

“I’m very grateful, it feels like a huge milestone for me personally. I've always admired the Canadian Screen Awards and I've followed them since I was a kid. I've been a member of the academy for a long time,” Duff said. “It's so lovely to be anywhere near consideration and I'm so happy for everybody.”

Duff has been working in the film industry for a while; he began acting when he was 13 and forayed into writing and directing during the pandemic. When he was 16, he started his own production company: Purple Monkeys Pictures. Just before he started film school, he travelled to the Cannes Film Festival.

Duff originally applied to and got into the RTA Media Production program at TMU. During his interview for the program, he gushed about his film-oriented interests, specifically in writing and direction.

“They were like: ‘Just a question. Why are you not applying to the Film program?’” Duff recalled. He didn’t realize there was a film program at the school, but frantically rushed to apply as soon as he heard.

“I heard a lot of great stories from alumni of the Film program and really admired their work. So I was like, this one sounds good,” he said.

Throughout his time at TMU, Duff said many opportunities came his way to meet people with the same interests, who opened many doors for him. That included the chance to produce a music video for the Tragically Hip, that went on to garner more than 700,000 views on YouTube (external link) .

“We slept over at this cottage and shot this fun little video,” Duff said. “And then the release day was the craziest thing because I've never made anything that's been seen by that many people.”

Since graduation, Duff has been to Iceland to join the Reykjavik International Film Festival Talent Lab, Budapest for Terry’s European premiere and London, where his short film was screened on a double-decker bus.

He is now working with his “friend and heavy collaborator” Brianna Russell–who also graduated from the program and co-produced Terry–on a web series.

Duff remembers feeling uncertain after graduation, unsure of what was going to come next. He wants to urge current students in the program to never give up, and to appreciate every small victory that comes their way. He said he’s also celebrating the victory that is being considered for a Canadian Screen Award. 

Duff said, “I'm so grateful to be in consideration at all. That's like a win for me anyways.”