School of life

Vancouver – The product of 25 cameras shooting over 10 months on the University of British Columbia campus will air over three nights March 1-3 on the The Documentary Channel. College Days, College Nights, by West Coast filmmaker John Zaritsky and producer Terence McKeown, was produced during the 2003/04 school year and follows 16 students through the parties, sex, sports and part-time jobs that get in the way of class time.

The filmmakers gave cameras to each of the students, who recorded diaries over the course of a year. Eight film-school interns also shot footage for Zaritsky.

‘I am particularly pleased with how video diaries lent a confessional-type quality to the students’ stories, and a candor and honesty to the film that might not otherwise have been achieved,’ says Zaritsky.

‘If you’re wondering what the future leaders of our country will be doing in 20 years – what they’re like, what they want, and how they misbehave – don’t miss this film,’ says Michael Burns, director of programming for the Documentary Channel. ‘This is the most exhaustive study of university life ever attempted in Canada.’

Zaritsky is planning another series for the Documentary Channel, Couples, which follows a dozen couples through critical stages in their relationships.

McKeown, meanwhile, is the director/producer of a one-hour doc in production for CBC’s Passionate Eye. Radiation Roulette is about the dangers of medical radiation and is scheduled for a spring broadcast. Ian Edwards