Two characteristics become immediately clear when talking to Film graduate Matthew Nie: grace and drive. These two attributes produce in him a kind of serene ambition – a quality which film critics worldwide are now applauding.

Nie’s student film, a documentary project called Good Stuff: The Story of a Man, A Dream, and a Whole Lotta Kites , recently won top honours at Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Festival. The film is a documentary about world-renowned kite-flying-virtuoso Ray Bethell, who is a fixture on Vancouver ’s beaches.

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Novare Res translates literally as “to make a revolution,” and this is precisely what David Tedman, Ken Yong, and Dario Meli set out to do when they started their own design firm. After graduating from what was then the VFS Interactive Media program (now Digital Design), the three built Novare Res into an interactive design company that markets ethically and socially responsible businesses.

Three years later, they are as dedicated as ever to growing a company that helps clients develop new directions for communicating complex messages. “The goal [of Novare Res] is to facilitate creative and technically innovative solutions while challenging modern methodologies in product, communication, and service,” the company website says.

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VFS students and staff lined up through the hall, down the stairs, and even outside in the rain, all of them anticipating the arrival of one of the world’s most talented and accomplished visual effects artists. Rob Coleman, animation director for Industrial Light and Magic, recently shared his knowledge, history in the business, and clips of his latest film, Star Wars Episode III: Return of the Sith.

Animation Evolving

In a presentation that consumed the entire afternoon, Coleman touched on the growth of his career and where his inspiration lies, focusing intensely on the evolution of computer animation. “Computers and software will always change, which is a great tool, but to understand the fullest potential of animation you have to realize that it is an illusion of movement and the creation of a performance,” said Coleman. “Always think of animators as actors.”

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