Luca Tarantini’s short film The Middle Way has won the 2014 edition of the TVO Doc Studio Short Doc Contest, the broadcaster announced Thursday.

As the winning film, The Middle Way will air on TVO on April 30. Tarantini, who hails from Woodbridge, ON, will also receive a pass to the Hot Docs Film Festival and spend one day in a mentorship session with Emmy Award-winning director Peter Raymont.

The Middle Way was one of five films that were selected to go on to the final round of the competition, where viewers could vote for the winner online. Over 100 short films were submitted for this year’s competition.

The five-minute long The Middle Way follows the story of Jasper Bendici, a theology student at a Greek Orthodox seminary who is also the singer and lead guitarist in a local rock band.

“Luca’s film addressed the harmony a lot of young people crave when they are caught between two cultures. I think his story was one of self-discovery and optimism and that clearly attracted online voters,” Jane Jankovic, TVO’s commissioning editor, told Playback Daily.

This year marks the third time TVO has run the short documentary competition. The contest helps to encourage growing public interest in documentaries, noted Jankovic, and provides viewers with an entry point into TVO’s other documentary offerings.

“People keep checking us out online, so it’s clearly addressing that growing interest,” Jankovic said.