Behind the scenes of student coverage at TIFF

Journalism students took to the red carpet at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), to flex their skills while interviewing directors, photographing stars and reviewing yet-to-be-released films.

CanCulture (external link) , an online publication dedicated to Canadian arts and culture, had its editor-in-chief Mariana Schuetze, a fourth-year student, and managing editors John Vo, a third-year student and Caelan Monkman, a fourth-year student, on the ground floor reviewing films and experiencing TIFF for the first time.

Building up the courage

Lining up in the press section with other publications can be nerve-racking for journalism students, which is why they used the buddy system approach to help them develop confidence as well as journalism experience. 

“The imposter syndrome slowly sneaks up on you as you’re standing on a red carpet and Taika Waititi is in front of you,” said Monkman. “It was nice to be with each other, have each other’s backs and say, ‘We’re working journalists now. We deserve a space on this carpet.’”

While on the red carpet reporting for Met Radio (external link) , Toronto Metropolitan University’s campus and community multi-media hub, second-year student Nicole Soroka thought back to streeter interviews she had done in her first year.

“I’ve only had two interviews besides those [streeters] last year,” said Soroka. “TIFF was the first in-person interviewing opportunity and a chance to talk professionally with people. So, making sure we had good questions and were prepared beforehand helped.”

TIFF diversity and media inclusivity 

Another Met Radio reporter, third-year student Zoha Naghar, said her approach to covering TIFF was to hone in on its diversity.

“Being a Muslim woman in the media, it was interesting because I didn’t see many people like myself at the festival. So, I was like, why not interview people who are also minority groups, whether that was ethnicity or gender, I wanted to share their story,” she said.

She was able to apply her personal experiences and knowledge to her reporting, including doing the red carpet coverage for a Hindi documentary that followed a woman’s life in India.

Naghar’s friend, who was on the carpet, didn’t speak Hindi, and the main character did not speak English. Naghar offered to translate the interview since she spoke Urdu, which is similar to Hindi.

“I was looking at the carpet, and I saw some people who looked like me, but a lot of them didn’t, and it’s kind of unfair to have a carpet with these people who can’t resonate with them fully,” Naghar said.

“There was one person at the beginning of the carpet who spoke the same language, and they were thrilled, the director and woman were so happy. When it came to our turn, I told her to speak in whatever language they were comfortable in. As soon as I said that, their faces relaxed, and they were so genuine with us.”

The diversity of other students also helped their journalism. Schuetze spoke with the director and actress from Toll ('Pedágio') (external link)  in Brazilian Portuguese and translated the interview for an article in Canculture.  

Schuetze, who is Brazilian, was excited to not only watch Toll, but to have the chance to connect with the director and actress, “I feel like we don’t see Brazil in a lot of things, especially abroad, so that was very exciting for me.”