Humber College film and television course head Eva Ziemsen didn’t know what to expect when she marched into the school’s dean’s office, preparing to make an “outrageous” request for never-before given funds for a student feature film project.

Armed with only rudimentary financial plans, a marketing package, an actor wish-list, and a list of potential projects that could be expanded into feature films, she delivered her audacious pitch: “I want Humber College to go to Cannes.“

Among the projects on the list was Reign, a short film written by Humber student Corey Misquita set against the backdrop of high school bullying.

The story centres on the bond between two girls: the popular Brooke (played by Samantha Weinstein) and unpopular Charlie (Jordan Todosey). When Charlie is caught on camera at a party kissing Brooke, the video goes viral within the school and Brooke turns on Charlie. As Brooke becomes one of the bullies, Charlie is driven to drastic measures.

Ziemsen’s bold pitch proved enough to persuade the dean the short should be expanded into a 75-minute feature with a budget of under $20,000.

Using actors under the student production ACTRA agreement, and with students from the school’s Film and Television Production program (FMTV) devoting their time for free, the project was shot during a consecutive 18-day run last summer, involving around 30 students and professionals. In an extension of the FMTV curriculum foundation, mentors were also brought in to coach students in their various production roles.

And while Humber College hasn’t made it to Cannes (quite yet), Ziemsen and co-executive producer Anneli Ekborn showed the film to Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) founder Leslie Ann Coles, who thought Reign would slot in nicely as the festival’s opening night feature.

In terms of target audience, Ziemsen says it will certainly appeal to younger viewers, though the universality of the themes, such as betrayal, bullying, and loss of friendship, give the feature a far broader reach.

Ziemsen also rejects the notion that young people are any less equipped to write meaningful scripts and make important films.

“People always say young people don’t have enough life experience to write a film. And I disagree with that – I say they have plenty of life experience, especially about being a child and a teenager, because they’re so close to it, they can almost still write in that voice,” she said.

Going forward, Humber College hopes to formalize the shorts-to-feature strategy and potentially turn it into a post-graduate certificate.

Humber optioned and purchased the film, with a profit return model for several members of the team. Beyond FeFF, the plan is to get the film into a number of other festivals this year.

Reign is scheduled to screen at 6 p.m. June 16 in the Royal Cinema as part of FeFF.