Bernice Afriyie | Arts Editor
Featured image: Peter Widdrington, pictured right, challenges traditionally long storylines with his 60-second short film, “A New Home.” | Courtesy of Toronto Urban Film Festival
Film is the most powerful medium for storytelling, believes Peter Widdrington, a third-year film production student. That may sound like a huge claim to back up, but Widdrington’s latest short film, “A New Home,” accepted by Toronto Youth Shorts for their TYS180 series, conveys film’s ability to be a moving medium.
The short begins with an intimate shot of a man, but viewers only see his feet, followed by moving shots of Toronto buildings and houses. Fast forward to the last scene: a child sitting in a car. The child holds a drawing he has made of his parents smiling beside houses on opposite sides of the piece of paper. In between the boy’s parents is him, standing and frowning. The boy looks outside of the car to a home as the music dramatically anticipates the tension.
“‘A New Home’ was a test to see what story I could tell in 60 seconds. It’s a short story about the innocence we have as children,” says Widdrington.
The film achieves much more than that.
“A New Home” transforms familiar parts of Toronto communities and houses into conversation pieces.
“It took us four drives around many different areas of Toronto to get the variety of footage we ended up using,” says Widdrington. The houses not only signify an identification for Toronto viewers, but also a recognition of family, intimacy and relationships that form in our neighbourhood. Whatever personal experiences viewers bring to the film informs how they understand the child and Widdrington’s notion of childhood innocence, which adds weight to the very brief short.
Part of the heaviness of Widdrington’s films has to do with his own cinematic expectations.
“Films have always been my biggest inspiration. Movies always reach me in a way I can’t get out of anything else, and linger with me longer than most other art out there,” explains Widdrington.
“Film is also incredibly versatile; it allows you to take many different paths. Many of my favourite filmmakers have done commercials, music videos and short films on top of features.”
There is an intertextual nod to music, drawing and painting in “A New Home.” The child’s drawing introduces the visual arts and a pictorial method of storytelling. The boy’s unrefined way of telling his story contrasts the highly stylized and framed overarching narrative of the film, yet somehow the two complement each other.
The short film was featured by Toronto Youth Shorts, a space for young artists across the GTA to share their creative works.
“It’s nice having a platform that promotes the work of the people in your community, and builds connections with other independent filmmakers,” says Widdrington.
