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Student and Alumni Showcase

Student and Alumni Showcase

Below you will find a small selection of Documentary Media alumni award winning work.

Luke Galati  (external link) 

Luke Galati

CBC (external link) , Get Reel: These young filmmakers hope their work can help youth battle mental illness.

Christopher Donovan  (external link) 

Christopher Donovan

Awarded the Ian Parry Scholarship (external link, opens in new window)  in recognition of his MRP research. It is a UK-based organization funded by The Sunday Times and war photographer Sir Don McCullin. 

Michelle Melles

Michelle Melle's film on family journey navigating mental health premiered at the  Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival 202. Deeply personal documentary ‘Drunk on Too Much Life’ follows Michelle Melles’ daughter’s winding road to recovery.

Chris Donovan  (external link) 

Chris Donovan

Chris Donovan, who currently lives in Fredericton while pursuing a master of fine arts in documentary media at Toronto Met, won the Scotiabank and National Gallery of Canada 2021 New Generation Photography Award (external link, opens in new window)  earlier this year for a series of photographs entitled The Cloud Factory, which were taken around Saint John. 

Peter Totten

“‘places that make me feel i'm home’: Trans* Representation in Our Own Voice” won third place at the inaugural Image Centre GRADFlix competition (opens in new window) 

Susan Enberg  (external link, opens in new window) 

Susan Enberg

“In Jesus’ Name: Shattering the Silence of St. Anne’s Residential School” awarded Best Documentary Short at Toronto film festival 2018.

Portrait of Dominic Akena  (opens in new window) 

Dominic Akena

Finding the power in your story. Featured story in Image Centre Today. (opens in new window) 

Marc Serpa Francoeur & Bob Uppal: The World in Ten Blocks  (external link, opens in new window) 

Marc Serpa Francoeur & Robinder Uppal

The World in Ten Blocks, a documentary installation about Toronto's Bloorcourt neighborhood featured throughout the Hot Docs 2016 festival as part of the DocX program (external link, opens in new window) .

Daniel Froidevaux & Elisa Gonzalez

The Quiet Zone, premiered at Hot Docs 2017. (external link, opens in new window) 

Carrie Davies

Carrie Davis

Carrie Davis is the 2021 recipient of the Supporting Aboriginal Graduate Enhancement (SAGE) Award

The SAGE Award has been established by a friend of the Rotary Club through the Toronto Eglinton Rotary Charitable Foundation to encourage Indigenous students to pursue graduate studies with the hope of increasing the number of Indigenous peoples entering careers in academia. Awarded a Rotary scholarship in 1968, she was able to travel from her homeland of Denmark to pursue post-graduate work in biochemistry in the United States, at a time when it was uncommon for women to pursue higher education. After completing her PhD in 1974, she came to Canada where she taught and conducted research at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, until her recent retirement as a tenured faculty member.

Felipe Castaneda Gamboa  (external link) 

Felipe Castaneda Gamboa

My Grad Moment video contest winner Felipe Castaneda Gamboa, shares a peaceful moment (external link)  during graduate studies. 

Image by Alia Youssef  (external link, opens in new window) 

Alia Youssef

Uses photography to diversify generalized perceptions of Muslim women with her series, The Sisters Project. Featured in Elle (external link, opens in new window) .    

Screenshot of Global News featuring Dominik Akena  (external link, opens in new window) 

Dominic Akena

From child soldier in Uganda to documentary filmmaker: Dominic Akena shares story of survival. Global News Feature. (external link, opens in new window) 

Rebekah Reiko : Mandala Beats

Rebekah Reiko

Mandala Beats, world premiere, closes the 2017 Toronto Jewish Film Festival.

Alia Youssef, Documentary Media MFA

Alia Youssef

Awarded the 2020 Toronto Met Gold Medal. Winners were honoured in a virtual celebration.   

Lisa Rideout

Take a Walk on the Wildside, premiered at Hot Docs 2017. (external link, opens in new window) 

Eduardo Lima: Tom Hanson Photojournalism Award, 2016  (external link, opens in new window) 

Eduardo Lima

Lima is the recipient of the Tom Hanson Photojournalism Award, 2016. (external link, opens in new window) 

He is a Toronto-based freelance photojournalist who is a regular contributor to Corbis Images and Metroland Media and who has been published in the Toronto Star and Le Monde. Website. (external link, opens in new window) 

Felipe Castaneda Gamboa  (external link) 

DocNow @ Gallery 1313

Get out there, Toronto art lovers: 10 galleries with exciting new shows and open doors, The Toronto Star (external link, opens in new window) .

The month-long DocNOW Documentary Media Festival launches Aug. 5 with three multimedia installations by Toronto-based artists Neal Rockwell, Ubaid-ur-Rehman and Roya Biazar, who share personal perspectives on migrant and refugee experiences. 

Image by Zanele Muholi  (external link, opens in new window) 

Zanele Muholi

Showcased in feature about their work and its focus on marginalized queer communities in South Africa, by WPRESENT (external link, opens in new window) .

Jason O'Hara

State of Exception, premiered at Hot Docs 2017. (external link, opens in new window) 

Michelle Melles and Drunk on Too Much Life film poster

Michelle Melles

Recipient of the Image Centre Gold Medal. Melles created her film ‘Drunk on Too Much Life’ in part to help change the cultural narrative of mental illness and how it is often stigmatized and conveyed exclusively through medical diagnosis.

Lindsay Fitzgerald

About Employment, featuring Yin Brown, won 1st Place in the 2016 TVO Short Docs competition. (external link, opens in new window) 

Vivian Bealik: Underdog documentary  (external link, opens in new window) 

Vivian Belik

Underdog is a documentary film co-created with Naomi Mark about Yuka Honda, a Japanese expat who prepares for a 1000 mile dogsled race to fulfill her mother's dying wish. Featured on CBC Short Docs. (external link, opens in new window) 

Ali Weinstein & Caitlin Durlak

Mermaids, directed by Weinstein & produced by Durlak, premiered at Hot Docs 2017. (external link, opens in new window)