U, Really
What is the experience of university students, the real experience? The U, Really Film Project is an ongoing initiative of making short, documentary style films, films by students, about the real and messy and funny lives of their fellow students. We do this because there’s a gap to be filled. Students’ perceptions about university life are formed, in part, by a narrow band of media representations and marketing material that paint an incomplete picture. We hope that these films will add to the the story and will, not only entertain and inform, but help students experience their own meandering, and messy, and funny paths in education as normal and ok.
The following include some of the works embarked on so far in the U, Really series.
Passages
Passages is a film by Toronto Met Student Affairs that we hope acts as a catalyst for thinking about school. Its purpose is no more heroic than that. We want to nudge people here and there in their thinking about what it means to engage in post-secondary education.
Kids in University
What do kids think university is like? We asked.
Back of the Class
Exploring life at the back of the classroom. Who sits there, and why?
Toronto Met Identities: A film about film
Perspectives and unusual trajectories from current and former film studies students; a U, Really film.
CAMPUS : AM
What’s Toronto Metropolitan University campus like between midnight and sunrise? CAMPUS : AM is a series of conversations between two nocturnal film students and other stay-uppers on a university campus in downtown Toronto.
Premiered February 2019 at the Toronto Vanguard Film Festival and March 2019 at the Toronto Short Film Festival (external link) .
Official Selection, Toronto Vanguard 2019
Official Selection, Toronto Short Film Festival 2019
Inside Anxiety
A look at what anxiety looks and feels like for some students. By inviting students to think about their own anxiety and how they practice self-care, Student Life TMU conveys a key mental health awareness message: “No story is the same. But you’re never alone.”
University Affairs: “Witness anxiety through a student’s eyes”. (external link)
Toronto Met Identities: My Father's Friends
Two stories about fathers, families, and movement. Distinct identities; a U, Really film.