CREDIT: TAYLOR GORDON & NIGIL VAZQUEZ
Two Fanshawe Advanced Filmmaking graduates, Taylor Gordan and Nigil Vazquez, won the enRoute Film Festival award for best documentary for I'm Still Embarrassed.

For two Fanshawe graduates, paying tribute to Robert Munsch led to a creative project that brought them to the ninth annual Air Canada enRoute Film Festival, and later to win in their category for best documentary.

Both Taylor Gordan and Nigil Vazquez, graduates of the Fanshawe College Advanced Filmmaking program, worked together to write and produce a short film that paid homage to a visit from Robert Munsch.

They won a Best-In-Class award as part of the short documentary called I’m Still Embarrassed, a friendly and confidence-building book that is written by Munsch that put kids from Cobalt, Ontario in a book. Their film received the national award for Achievement in Documentary.

The graduates received their award at the closing ceremony of the enRoute Film Festival on Nov. 5 in Toronto. Their prize includes an all-inclusive trip for two to the Berlin International Film Festival, courtesy of Air Canada, in addition to prizes donated by industry partners.

Gordan and Vazquez met while in the Advanced Filmmaking program and it worked out that they were matched up to collaborate on I’m Still Embarrassed.

Gordan played writer/director and Vazquez was producer/editor. They worked so well together and admittedly, took on the roles of the other person. Their film, I’m Still Embarrassed tells the story of how a Cobalt, Ontario elementary school, Gordon’s home town, got a taste of magic after meeting legendary children’s author Robert Munsch.

Andrew Livingston is an acquaintance of Gordon’s who is also featured in the documentary. As a little boy he first met Munsch and admitted he was embarrassed by his mom who pointed out how his hair was messy.

“Munsch is animated to the extreme and it really draws the children in and gets the point of his books across. He is just really passionate about what he does and you can feel it. I’m no longer embarrassed,” said Livingston.

In the beginning of the documentary creation process, Gordan and Vazquez had to come up with 10 possible short documentary ideas that they would produce, direct and make during a fall semester.

Gordon had to think about what she knew and what kind of network she could use. In the end, Gordan and Vazquez decided to do a documentary about the famous Canadian author. Vasquez said his education at Fanshawe helped this documentary come to life.

“[Coming to Fanshawe] was an easy decision. I did an undergrad at the University of Ottawa and started writing scripts there; I also got a writing portfolio started and I knew I needed a lot of technical experience and only wanted to do a concentrated one-year program. It was a perfect mix of concentration and pacing,” Vazquez said.

The London-native knew the types of programs that Fanshawe offered and therefore decided to stay close to home and attend the Filmmaking program.

As for the experience of attending the enRoute Film Festival, Vazquez couldn’t be happier.

“It was an amazing experience, we got to meet a lot of people who are in the same situation in life. It was valuable to meet other peers who are going through the same stuff as us,” Vazquez said. “We won a Hot Docs Industry Pass, as well as having our film screened at the Berlin Film Festival.”

In terms of the experience, Gordan and Vazquez were judged by celebrity judges that included Tatiana Maslany, star of Orphan Black and Woman in Gold, Catherine O’Hara, an actress from Schitt’s Creek and Best in Show and Yassmina Karajah, 2014 Air Canada enRoute Film Festival winner. The other seven judges ranged from directors, to actors, to presidents of Bell Media’s Harold Greenberg Fund.

“The Advanced Filmmaking program is thrilled about the award that Taylor and Nigel have won,” said program coordinator and professor Romy Goulem in a press release. “It’s great that they are being recognized nationally for the hard work and dedication that they put into making this film. They epitomize the type of individuals that succeed in the film industry and we couldn’t be more proud of their achievement.”

“EnRoute is a prestigious festival, adjudicated by top Canadian producers, directors and actors. This award acknowledges the caliber of training provided by Fanshawe and the quality of work our students produce,” said Rob Carver, chair of Fanshawe’s School of Contemporary Media in the same press release. “Knowing this film will be seen by millions of viewers worldwide provides a great kick start for our graduates’ careers. From all of us at Fanshawe, congratulations Taylor and Nigil.”

In addition Gordon and Vazquez will have their film broadcast on Air Canada’s personal entertainment system where it will be viewed by millions of Air Canada customers around the world. There will be a free public screening and awards celebration held in Toronto at the end of the year to honour the winners and additional special events will take place in Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal.

More information about the en- Route Film Festival and this year’s winners can be found at enroute.aircanada.com/en/film-festival.