News

Over the last few years, the Film Arts program at Langara College has made big waves in the film industry. Find out what some of them are up to:

Jonas Quastel is one of Vancouver's premiere writer/directors. A multifaceted creative professional with almost 20 years experience in the world of dramatic feature film, Quastel lives in Vancouver, BC and works wherever movies take him.

He began his career in the lighting and camera departments with the intention of becoming a director of photography. While gaining on-set experience he began writing screenplays and soon had a quick succession of scripts produced  Crackerjack, starring Nastassia Kinski and Christopher Plummer; Listen, a thriller starring Brooke Langdon; and Sub Zero with Costas Mandylor and Nia Peebles. Jonas’s directorial debut was the feature The Untold (2002), which he also wrote. It starred Lance Henriksen and Andrea Roth.  Next up was "Ripper II" shot in Prague starring Erin Karpluk. Premonition a suspense thriller with Casper Van Dien and Catherine Oxenberg. Scourge with Robyn Ledoux and Russ Ferrier (nominated for a Best  Direction Leo award). Jonas also co-produced the CTV movie of the week What Color Is Love? Most recently, Jonas wrote and directed Forced to Fight (2011) starring Peter Weller and Gary Daniels. He is currently writing and has a number of feature projects in development.

Andrew DeVilliers (Writing Steam 2006), Laura Hope (Acting 2009) and Tyler Funk (Directing 2009)
These alumni are finalists for the 2012 Crazy 8s Filmmaking Extravaganza, a high profile and competitive industry event, after competing with 118 teams. Students must function as "producers" in a team - so this plays right into the strengths of our Program: teamwork, collaboration, cross-discipline. The eight-day event challenges the top 13 finalists to create six short films in just eight days. The finished films will be screened at a gala event to the Vancouver film industry on March 31, 2012.

David C. Hamelin and Neil Macdonald
David and Neil, graduates of the Directing stream in 2006, have been accepted into the 2012 National Screen Institute (NSI) Features First program for their horror script Fragments. They also had their short film (a teaser for the feature) Fragments premiere at LA Screamfest in October 2011.

Rhea Fedorchuk, Peter Skytta, Jacqui Schuler and Ted Stuart
This group entered their film "Kaboomtown" for the 2011 Whistler Film Festival and got accepted. 

Jordie Keith and Erik Hofmann
Our 2010 graduates Jordie and Erijk's film "Missing Link" is showing at the Whistler Film Festival.

Brandon Bob
Brandon completed the Film Arts Acting Stream and received an Aboriginal Arts Development Award from the First Peoples' Heritage, Language and Culture Council to make his short film Highwire. Production started Fall 2010 with fellow Film Arts alumni Janin Palahicky and Laura Hope.

Bryan Nykon
Bryan went on to do a joint masters degree in Conflict Resolution and Media Production from Rotary International's World Peace Fellowship Program in Bradford, England. As a part of his studies, he participated in a United Nations' internship program in New York at their Department of Public Information.There, he worked with a team to use multimedia to engage youth in global issues and crossed paths with Secretary-General Ban and various representatives of Stevie Wonder, Princess Haya, and Edward Norton. "I was thrilled to discover that the UN seems the share my belief that film can be a powerful tool that galvanizes support for global issues. It can raise awareness to injustice and environmental issues, show various perspectives to conflicts, and spread the idea that we all share a common humanity."

Adam Pike
Adam is a 2007 Film Arts graduate who completed the directing stream. He is currently working as an Editor in Bristol, England cutting the British version of "Deal or No Deal."

Mitchell Politeski
Mitchell started working at Keystone Entertainment as a Post Production Assistant prior to completing the Film Arts program and has been upgraded to an Assistant Editor role. He is also working on a few personal projects, including a feature film script, a graphic novel, and another short film that is in a very early conceptual stage. His scriptThe Identity Thief was submitted to the Whistler Film Festival this year.

News archives

Students and instructors alike have been in the spotlight for their talents in acting, writing, and directing. Learn more about some of our successes:

2010

2008

2007

2006