My new short film The Dolphins premieres at the Victoria Event Centre on Thursday, February 1, 2018.

I’ve been privileged to make over 50 short films in four decades, starting with Super-8, moving into 16mm, mini-DV and now HD.

A lot of my movies have been entries into the wonderful competitions that CineVic has held over the years: Scrapshots, Reel to Reel, One Shot Wonders, Film Slam, and Film Festivus.

My latest film, however, belongs in the “self-motivated” category. These are the films I’ve made because I needed to make them. Films like Alpbach, Thankful, Awoken, Red Tape and The Dolphins. In each case, I wanted to document a moment in time or explore a creative challenge.

The creative challenge behind The Dolphins was, “Can I make a fiction film on vacation in Mexico?” Not a travelogue, but something with a theme and no crew; just me and my DSLR.

So it’s kinda ironic that it has its premiere at a film competition. Bryan Skinner is hosting the Alan Smithee Awards and The Dolphins is entered.

Bryan is making Open for Submissions, “a comedic, feature-length mockumentary about a newly appointed film festival Executive Director who must overcome sabotage and betrayal in order to save his job and keep the screens alight.” He created the Alan Smithee Awards to source films for his feature.

My take: I hope to see you there!