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UNBers’ first feature length film to premiere at international film festival

Author: UNB Newsroom

Posted on Sep 5, 2019

Category: UNB Fredericton

Two faculty members and a graduate from the University of New Brunswick Fredericton will premiere their first feature length film at this year’s FIN Atlantic International Film Festival. Dr. Rob Gray, a professor in the English department and Dr. Matt Rogers, an associate professor in the faculty of education, will screen their film, Entropic, on Friday, Sept. 13. The film, which was completed in collaboration with UNB graduate and filmmaker John Dewar, will take place at 9:40 p.m. at Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane in Halifax.

Entropic was produced by Frictive Pictures. The film received funding in June 2017 from Telefilm Canada’s The Talent Fund through the New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Co-operative. This fund was created to assist filmmakers with the production of an original feature-length film. The film was also produced with the participation of the Province of New Brunswick’s Cultural Industries (Section) and Tourism, Heritage and Culture; and made with the generous support of ArtsNB, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) and the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA).

The film, which took two years to produce, involved UNB students and alumni in many roles, from production to acting. Script supervisor and former UNB student, Ty Giffin felt honoured to be part of the project. “To be working on a feature film one month after graduating was a dream come true,” he said. “It was the first feature I worked on and it was a truly valuable learning experience.”

Entropic is based on Dr. Rob Gray’s short story in his latest collection of the same name. This story won the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award in 2016. Gray describes it as “the story of an introverted man (who) asked to help the most beautiful person he knows find freedom from the burden of others’ desires.”

FIN Atlantic International Film Festival is an eight-day festival running from Sept. 12-19. It celebrates worldwide film and media and champions local filmmakers. Tickets to see Entropic are available through FIN AIFF.

Media contact: Angie Deveau

Photo: L-R: Jon Dewar, Matt Rogers, R.W. Gray. Credit: Kaleigh Stultz