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By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakvilles Martin Sokol had no idea that his final project at Sheridan College would end up on an international movie screen. The 24-year-olds animated short film, titled Eggcellent, is one of 40 films in the Short Cuts Canada (SCC) category at this years Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which opened last week and contin- ues through Sunday, Sept. 19. I feel very honoured, he said. Its very nice to see all that hard work paid off. I bust- ed my buns pretty hard. For me, personally, its very rewarding, but it also says a lot that I really want to pursue this field and try being a director and make more films. However, the fact that his film is in the festival is a surprise to him. Sokol, who graduated from the colleges bachelor of applied arts animation program in April, worked on the film project his entire final year. The film would determine his grade. With the film completed and grad- ed, his and five other top-of-class Sheridan films were submitted to TIFFs Student Film Showcase by Sheridan faculty members. However, it was his fellow schoolmate, Lily Sun, who won the showcase, which took place in May. To Sokols surprise though, his film was selected by another jury, this time to enter the competitive SCC category, which fea- tures short films produced by Canadians. A few months after (the student show- case), one of the co-ordinators at TIFF called me and said, Hey listen, can we have your film shown at TIFF, the actual festival? I did- nt apply for it, they actually asked me if they could put my film in the festival and I said, Yes, of course, he said. Now, his film is in a field of other short films hoping to win the category. This is the largest category. There are 40 films and there are a few other animated films, but there arent a lot and, within the degree program, Im the first to have a stu- dent film shown at the festival, he said. The film is about a hen at an egg farm where chickens that dont produce get killed. The hen in the story is unable to lay eggs whereas the chickens around it produce eggs in multitudes. When a robot comes to kill the hen, for its lack of production, the small bird lays an egg larger than all the others. This hen that lays the massive egg changes the standard and all the other hens now have to lay eggs that are equal to that one, Sokol said. I tried to make the films work on many different levels. Its got a surface story, but its also got a sub-story to it. The surface story is simple and humourous, but underneath it is a commen- tary on the working world. Its more or less a commentary on socie- ty, but more so a commentary on the anima- tion world. Sometimes, we, as artists can be the hens where we produce all this artwork all the time and sometimes its never enough. We work really hard in the industry. The idea of over consumption and material- ism plays a role in it, too, he said. When the hen lays the egg it means dont take anything for granted. What you make is beautiful and thats maybe more important than always producing all these w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER W e dn es da y, Se pt em be r 1 5, 2 01 0 3 0 Students Eggcellent film at TIFF short category HARD AT WORK: Pictured is a screen shot from Martin Sokols Eggcellent animated short film entered in this years TIFF Short Cuts Canada cate- gory. The skinny hen is singled out for its inability to lay eggs and is under pressure to produce or it will become a dish. SUBMITTED PHOTO See Film page 31