Realize your future with TMU Graduate Studies
‘The journey continues to be amazing’
Cyrus Sundar Singh
Documentary Media MFA alumnus
Communication and Culture PhD student
A Gemini Award-winning filmmaker, musician, storyteller and scholar, Cyrus Sundar Singh routinely transcends the boundaries of research, film and music. An alumnus of the Documentary Media MFA program, Sundar Singh’s acclaimed works include “Film Club” and the site-specific live-documentary world premieres “Brothers in the Kitchen” (2016) and “Africville in Black and White” (2017/18).
As a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration research fellow, Sundar Singh produced the following two projects with graduate students from across Canada: i am … (2021) exploring identity and belonging that resulted in 28 three-minute films; and Under the Tent (external link) (2022), a multimedia storytelling project exploring multiculturalism and belonging that resulted in 17 creative outputs; and WhereWeStand (spring 2023).
Sundar Singh is presently a PhD (ABD) student in the joint Communication and Culture graduate program. His thesis, “Performing the Documentary: Expanding the Cinematic Frame,” explores ephemeral live performance, site-specificity and co-creation in the presence of the audience, storytellers, musicians and narrators as a viable and successful documentary methodology.
How has your TMU graduate experience been?
The [Documentary Media MFA] cohort became the community. In this particular MFA, there's a range of ages, people, locations, generations, talents: photographers, writers, editors, filmmakers, musicians. It's all this great stuff to stand on. So you can pull a lot of energy from those things and from those different people.
The journey continues to be amazing and I feel totally privileged to be afforded this opportunity, in a place like TMU that has supported me all the way through it. So I'm just pinching myself every day.
How did TMU Graduate Studies help prepare you to be career-ready?
We have great access to faculty that have a range of skills. So it continues to build that confidence. And that's part of what has given me the confidence to continue through
and to stay in the game.
What advice do you have for graduate students?
Be open to possibilities, embrace change and have fun. Those things allowed me to engage with everything that came my way. And don’t be afraid of changing your thesis at any time. That’s part of why we do research—to dig and discover.
Photo: Ben Bonsu
“I feel totally privileged to be afforded this opportunity, in a place like TMU that has supported me all the way.”
‘The journey continues to be amazing’
Cyrus Sundar Singh, Communication and Culture PhD student and Documentary Media MFA alumnus
Mahnoor Shahid, Master of Public Policy and Administration alumna
Dr. Kristopher Alexander, Master of Digital Media professor
Rachel McNamee, Environmental Applied Science and Management MASc alumna
Gavin Ball, Master of Digital Media alumnus
Shay Erlich, Child and Youth Care MA graduate
Dr. Karen Spalding, Director, Master of Health Administration (Community Care)
Charlie Wall-Andrews, Management PhD student and Trudeau Scholar
Shaping the future of health care
Kittie Pang, Master of Health Administration (Community Care) student
Dominic Akena, Documentary Media MFA alumnus
Jessica Phulchand, Molecular Science PhD student
Dr. Jenny Liu, Psychology PhD alumna
Emily Shepherdson, Aerospace Engineering PhD student
Pearson Ripley, Documentary Media MFA alumnus
Dr. Dale Carl, Director of Graduate Students and Professor, Ted Rogers School of Management
Asmaa Malik, Scholar-in-Residence, Yeates School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
A new look at the world’s oldest profession
Jenny Duffy, master’s alumna, Philosophy & Public Policy and Administration
Christian Hui, Master of Social Work alumnus
Dr. Anne Wagner, Psychology MA, PhD alumna and adjunct professor
Humza Nusrat, Biomedical Physics PhD student
Making black-and-white more grey
Nathaniel Brunt, Communication and Culture PhD student and Trudeau Scholar
Supporting women through building science
Building Science master's students
Andrew Brankley, Psychology MA alumnus and PhD student
Using drones to locate people with dementia
Dalia Hanna, Computer Science PhD student
Building sustainability into architecture
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Flipping the script on Black men's pain
David Grant, Master of Social Work alumnus
Standing up for immigrant women
Vathsala Illesinghe, Policy Studies PhD student
Riley Kucheran, Communication and Culture PhD student
Dr. Kamal Al-Solaylee, Journalism professor, Faculty of Communication & Design
Jamie Fine, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering PhD student
Richa Siddavaatam, Computer Science PhD student
Travonne Edwards, Child and Youth Care MA alumnus
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Adrienne Smith, Immigration and Settlement Studies MA alumna
Opening possibilities with inclusive tech
Mauricio Meza, MBA-MTI alumnus
Ella Dubinsky, Psychology MA
Secret marathon meets social change
Kate McKenzie, Master of Digital Media alumna
Julie Robertson, Environmental Applied Science and Management MASc alumna
Transgender research meets transformed lives
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Cannabis research meets new potential
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Jewelry business meets digital disruption
Noura Sakkijha, Ted Rogers MBA
Dr. Ben Barry, Professor and Director, Centre for Fashion Diversity and Social Change
Dr. Samin Eftekhari, Chemical Engineering PhD
City issues meet the big picture
Dr. Colin Robert Phillips, Policy Studies PhD
Cancer research meets better patient care
Dr. Michael Kolios, Professor and Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies, Faculty of Science
Ariana Cancelli, Master’s in Urban Development, MPl
Professional passion meets real-world opportunities
Jacky Au Duong, Master of Professional Communication
Inspirational faculty meets innovative research
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Entrepreneurship meets accessibility
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Life-changing experience meets long-term success
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Ancient traditions meet empowered youth
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