‘Unfamily’ by Whitby/Toronto movie making team earn People’s Choice award at Durham film festival

Siddarth Sharma and Mitchell Jaramillo managed to pack a lot of emotion into an 18-minute film about family, sacrifice, the threat of deportation and the pursuit of a better life, with the result resonating with the crowd that filed into the Biltmore Theatre in downtown Oshawa Saturday night for its world premiere.

Unfamily, directed by and starring Sharma, produced by Whitby filmmaker Jaramillo and written by both, was the penultimate showing at the Durham Region International Film Festival and was selected as the People’s Choice Award winner and the $1,000 prize that goes with it.

The film highlights the complexities of immigrant experiences and tries to capture the challenges faced by those seeking to make Canada their home and the often tenuous grip on the connections that keep them here.

“There wasn’t an idea of a statement being made. We just wanted to provide a full window and paint a better picture,” explained Sharma at the Q & A following the premiere. ‘We wanted people to be able to decide for themselves.”

The short film, produced by Toronto-based Hold the Sauce Films, was also the winning submission in the festival’s $10,000 incubator contest in the spring and Jaramillo, who went to Father Leo Austin High School in Whitby, was grateful for the support from DRIFF.

“This film started as a personal project, but quickly turned into a universally resonant story we believe people from all walks of life will appreciate,” he said in April. “We started Hold the Sauce Films last year to create our own opportunities as actors, so bringing to life a film of this scale is a huge milestone for us.”

The Emerging Filmmaker award provided Jaramillo, Sharma and their team with $10,000 cash, mentoring and in-kind services to produce their film and have it screened at DRIFF fall event.

Unfamily, directed by Siddarth Sharma

Unfamily is a drama about a young man who is facing deportation and seeks refuge with his estranged half-brother while supporting his disabled mother. Nostalgic dreams of a warm, familial home quickly give way to the harsh reality of a struggling employment agency, his fight to stay in the country and his internal struggles.

“We wanted to explore extreme chaos and deep stillness, which reflects the uncertainty most international students face,” Jaramillo said, adding that the “chaotic nature” of the story demanded handheld/fast paced camera work and longer, “more patient” sequences.

Sharma drew on some personal experience in the writing – “I’m an international student myself” – and tried to make the deportation process as “real life” as possible.

“It all flowed in the writing and it came together,” he added, noting the film’s premise was developed two years ago. “Our intention was to make it as real as possible.”

Sharma has a decade in the acting business, with credits in The Way Home TV series and Children Ruin Everything, among others. Jaramillo is known for short films such as Where Love Once Was (currently in port-production), The Other Side and 17 Steps as a producer and Hold Your Hand and Wexford Plaza as an actor.

Hold the Sauce Films brought five productions to life in their first year with a passion for storytelling dedicated to independent filmmaking and crafting captivating performances.

The short film set up the festival’s feature attraction, Front Row, from celebrated Algerian director Merzak Allouache, which painted an often farcical picture about a family’s day at the beach and the internal squabbles, disputes with rival families and the star-crossed lovers that threatened to turn the day into disaster.

Front Row, directed by Merzak Allouache

DRIFF lined up a full agenda of movie magic at the Biltmore for the three-day festival’s final day, with free workshops in the morning and the ticketed films getting underway at 5:30 p.m.

The festival opened Thursday with the short film The Canadian Dream, followed by the feature film Atomic Reaction, a documentary directed by Michele Hozer that delves into Canada’s clandestine involvement in the Manhattan Project and its role in the creation of the world’s first weapons of mass destruction.

Friday’s events include a pair of international shorts – Bad for a Moment (Portugal) and Bug Diner (USA), followed by the feature All the Lost Ones, directed by Sheila McCarthy, which is set in the near future amidst a growing civil war sparked by climate disaster. A group of civilians seek refuge in North Bay while an anti-government militia group known as The Conservancy quickly advances north, resulting in a character-driven thriller featuring a talented ensemble cast.

Saturday’s events at the Biltmore began in the morning with a special effect seminar, followed by a VFX and Immersive Media seminar, with both events free to the public.

A series of short films were up next, including A Good Day will Run (Canada, Turkey, Iran); Hearing My Other Half (Canada); Desync (Canada); Triage (Canada); Lure (Canada); Lavenza (Canada); Heap (Canada); before Unfamily and Front Row closed out the festival.

DRIFF, now in its eighth year, is an endearing testament to the power of storytelling and the universal themes that connect us all.

Five other awards were presented Saturday: – Best Durham Region Film, Best Student Film, Best Documentary Film, Best Short Film and Best International Film, with each award valued at $500.