Sheridan graduates win pair of national cinematography awards

Yufei (Jim) Zou won the Best Student Cinematography category and Fraser Brown claimed top honours in Best Cinematography in TV Drama — Non Commercial at this month’s Canadian Society of Cinematographers (CSC) Awards, joining a long list of Sheridan graduates who have received accolades at the annual gala.

Zou (Honours Bachelor of Film & Television ’22), an indie director and cinematographer from China who concentrates on exploring people’s mindsets through the flow of images and sounds, was honoured for Naked Island, a film about a young couple that is detained on an island and comes into contact with a mysterious disease.

“My experience during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 inspired this story,” Zou says in his director’s statement about the film, shot in Shanghai while he studied remotely in his final year of the BFTV program. “I wanted to create a story that reflects individuals’ mindsets and living conditions during the pandemic.”

Zou’s win marks the third time in four years that a Sheridan student film has received the CSC’s Best Student Cinematography award, and the fifth time in the past eight. Since 2012, Sheridan students have received 15 nominations for Best Student Cinematography, including three in 2016 and three more in 2021.

Brown (Media Arts ’03), the Director of Photography for HBO Max’s streaming television series Titans, was awarded for his cinematography in the show’s Season 4 premiere episode “Lex Luthor”. The Toronto-based cinematographer is a five-time Canadian Screen Award nominee for his work in drama and comedy series such as Kim’s Convenience, Blood & Water, and Hardy Boys.

"This industry recognition is reflective of our students and faculty’s incredible dedication to the art of cinematography,” says Sheridan BFTV program coordinator Randall Kapuscinski, “and evidence that great students, fantastic professors, excellent equipment and strong institutional support of filmmaking fosters amazing creative work.”

The CSC is the Canadian equivalent of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC), supporting training, education, mentorship and the dissemination of the latest technical and product information. Most professional directors of photography are members of the CSC, ASC or BSC.

Sheridan has been a leader in film and television education for more than 30 years. The Media Arts program was replaced in 2014 by the Honours Bachelor of Film and Television, a four-year degree that combines hands-on experience with theoretical learning in all aspects of the industry.