The Galleries: Seniors, Students and Summer Programs
Our SilverShorts Doc Project:
We are pleased to present videos from our workshops with participants 55+ at Back Lane Studios. The short documentaries are posted under different categories:
During the Covid pandemic in 2021, we had to switch from in-person to virtual activities. We opted to collect seniors’ stories about their Favourite Childhood foods. We have made a number of videos based on those stories, which will be published in late 2021 in a collection We Are What We Ate: Recipes and Memories from Childhood. We thank everyone for contributing their recipes and food memories for this program, supported in part by Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program.
We offered two approaches to the SilverShorts Doc Project. For the first, participants chose their topics, collected and curated photos and memorabilia; worked on their own scripts; learned some technical basics such as operating cameras and what goes into the editing process; and discovered the rich resources on-line to support their story where needed. They also interviewed each other, and these narratives and other materials were incorporated in short personal documentaries about their own experiences, their families SilverShorts Doc Project: Family Stories and historical subjects of interest.
For the second option, a crew of seniors worked together to produce videos about other peoples’ stories. Among the subjects who graciously volunteered their time: Don Cullen, founder of the Bohemian Embassy in the 1960s, writer, actor, radio program host — a man of many talent. Our filmmaking crews also produced documentaries about the two sisters who owned The Old Country Shoppe on Roncy and 94-year-old Lois Broad’s stories of growing up in the Junction. The program was called the SilverBullets — for the seniors who hit the mark with their video making projects. Watch their documentaries here.
Back Lane Studios’ workshops and initiatives have been supported by the New Horizons for Seniors Program. We have also received funding from an Ontario Seniors Community Grant and Canada Summer Employment grants.
SilverShorts Docs – The Bio-Diversity Project
As part of our SilverShorts Doc Project, we encouraged a class of Grade 12 Students at Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic High School to interview an older member or friend of their family and produce a video. The aim was to demonstrate the students’ diverse origins: hence, the name, The Bio-Diversity Project. Thanks to teacher Sean McClare for encouraging students to explore the stories of their parents, grandparents and friends.
Funded by
ArtReach: Origin Stories
Back Lane hosted a video-making project funded by ArtReach and the Toronto Arts Council in the summer of 2018. Older students, led by a just-graduated high-school student Michael O’Meara, worked with newcomer children to produce a series of videos.
The Summer Videos
During the summer, we run workshops at our studio for youth in photography, stop motion and documentary making. We hope you enjoy them!
The CityShorts Project
Students at Bishop Morocco/Thomas Merton Catholic High School explored interesting stories in the Roncesvalles neighbourhood and created these short videos as part of a Back Lane Studios’ program.