UNB Alumni
Telling our #ProudlyUNB stories

Film director and UNB young alumnus Gordon Mihan (BBA ’15) will participate in the Toronto Independent Film Festival Tuesday Sept. 12, and again later this week at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, with screenings of his short film The Wakefield Will.

The Toronto Independent Film Festival and the Atlantic Film Festival showcase the creative talents of micro and no-budget films from around the world.

“I love having a vision and getting a group of people together to help capture that vision - there's nothing quite like it,” he says. “The goal is to have people see your work, so having the film screen a couple of days apart in Toronto and Halifax is really nice.”

A dark comedy, The Wakefield Will tells the story of triplets dealing with the aftermath of their parents' tragic death when they're informed that they will not be bequeathed anything from their parents' estate if they can't figure out how to get along.

As Mihan prepares for a busy week of film festivals, he’s not only looking forward to seeing the creative works of his fellow filmmakers, but learning from the audience at screenings of The Wakefield Will.

“Sitting with an audience is exciting because each time it's quite different, an audience might be on board with certain jokes and beats when another audience might not,” he says. “It's helpful to see what people react to and in a lot of cases what they don't react to.”

In 2016 Mihan was the recipient of the Short Film Venture Grant, funded through the Government of New Brunswick in cooperation with the New Brunswick Filmmakers, Co-operative, through which he directed his film Coached, now in post-production. He is also a producer on a 2017 Short Film Venture Grant film, Letters from the Dead, directed by Arianna Martinez.

“When you make different films that vary greatly in tone, it's a chance to exercise different filmmaking techniques that you might not have used in previous projects.”

When he’s not developing new film techniques and making waves in the Canadian film industry, this talented young grad can be found exploring his degree in marketing. After graduating from UNB in 2015 with a BBA, Mihan began working for the New Brunswick Multicultural Council as Public Engagement and Marketing Coordinator. He credits much of his passion for both professions to the transferable skills he acquired at UNB.

“My time at UNB taught me a lot of team-based skills."

"In a lot of ways, marketing and filmmaking go hand-in-hand: there's a storytelling aspect that marketing really benefits from and without being able to market your work correctly, audiences won't necessarily see your films.”