AMPD News

A film by York University Associate Professor Patrick Alcedo earned the Best Short Documentary award at the Cannes Indies Cinema Awards on July 10. The film, titled They Call Me Dax, tells the story of 15-year-old Dorothy Echipare who struggles to survive as a high-school student and ballet dancer while living alone in a poor urban district in Quezon City, Philippines.

CineSiege features a juried selection of shorts chosen by program alumni and leading practitioners in film and media culture. Professors’ shortlist nominated films from all 200 films produced by students from all levels of the program in 2021.   The nominated films include fiction, documentary and experimental works. Those chosen for CineSiege are honoured for their exceptional achievement in the art and craft of cinema.   

York University Associate Professor Ron Westray, in the Department of Music, School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, is releasing an autobiography this September titled Life in Reverse: Tales of a Very Stable Narcissist (Anthem Press).

“It is possible that we exist in a predominantly narcissistic society in which people want you to love them; and then they don’t want you anymore,” says Westray, the inaugural Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance at York, about the book’s key message.

Starting from present and going back 30 years to 1990, the story of African-American jazz musician Westray's life journey – striving for knowledge, opportunity, acceptance and understanding – is written in reverse.

An embedded road itinerary guides the progression of the book. Years are rarely mentioned in the text; and, in most cases, only initials are used for all characters. People, places and things are all real in relation to the timeline. The work involves the insertion of common conversations – from sources such as texting and emails – to shed light on the fallibility of human relations. To a large degree, and within reason, the length of conversations are meant to be overbearing, countered by other aspects of the writing. Stories from Westray’s father and grandfather are featured in the book and his mother’s free-verse poetry is the soul that binds it together like a second narrator.

Westray's book will be available for preorder on July 19 on Google Books, Barnes & Noble.com, Waterstones.com and other places books are sold. For more information about Life in Reverse: Tales of a Very Stable Narcissist, visit the publisher’s website.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has announced that Luis Ramirez, a York University PhD candidate in Music, has received a commission for an original composition in their 2022 season.

I am writing to you today to not offer another statement. I am writing to you today to offer my deepest condolences and acknowledge the pain of individuals and communities affected by these and other events.

As part of his research, Eric Birkle curated a museum exhibition at the Flint Institute of Arts featuring selections from the Jack B. Pierson Print Collection.

Inspired by their Métis roots, and in dialogue with Indigenous Elders, Sophie Dow created Medicine Duets, a dance film that will screen at Buddies in Bad Times.

The School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design has a rich 2SLGBTQIA community. We pride ourselves as a place where students can find their community; where they can express themselves fully, and be loved by their friends, peers and mentors for it.