Award Winning St. John’s Filmmaker Stephen Dunn And Legendary Canadian Icon Gordon Pinsent Team Up On A Short Film Called Life Doesn’t Frighten Me
Stephen Dunn, a 4th year film student at Ryerson University, hailing from St. John’s Newfoundland, has already begun making waves in the Canadian film industry on a professional level.
Dunn is the youngest person ever selected for the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)’s Talent Lab where he won two of TIFFʼs RBC International Emerging Filmmaker Awards for his film Swallowed.
Now in his final year of film school, Dunn has been given the gift of working with Canadian Legend, fellow Newfoundlander and long time hero, Gordon Pinsent, on his final thesis film. Gordon enthusiastically accepted the role in Dunn’s film through a poem:
“Stephen Dunn, are you there my son?
‘T’is Gordon P who’s callin’ ye.
to tell you if he gets the chance
to work for ye for f*ckin’ free,
t’is he who’ll shit his pants!
-Gordon”
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me is an imaginative, dark-comedy short film about a little girl who gets her first period and thinks she’s dying. On the eve of her 13th birthday, Esther Weary must come to terms with the realities of becoming a woman with her eccentric Grandfather and his pet pug, King Henry, as her guide.
Filmmaking is no easy feat, especially for a group of broke film students. The film’s budget is over $9,000 and Dunn and Pinsent are inviting the public to help materialize this dream. In exchange for donations they are offering an array of exciting prizes, including signed posters, DVDs and a prestigious Executive Producer credit on the film.
In 2009 Dunn attended the Cannes Film Festival with his film, The Hall, and obtained notoriety from film critic Roger Ebert as an up and coming filmmaker to watch. His films have screened at the Cannes, Toronto, Miami, Atlantic, Enroute, NSI and St. John’s International Film Festivals. Most recently, Dunn’s motivational TED Talk Lecture, Redefining Magic, was featured at a TEDx Talk event last fall.
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If you would like more information about the film including movie & promotional stills, or to schedule an interview with Stephen, please contact him via phone at (647) 881 8558 or email at stephen.dunn@ryerson.ca
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