STORY BY KIRAN R. KHAN
Antisocial, a film outlining myths about social media, is giving student-turned-producer Christopher Giroux a chance to return to Sheridan College after five years.
Giroux, a Sheridan graduate from the Advanced Television and Film program will be attend a screening Oct. 14 for his film Antisocial. The film premiered last December.
“The idea of coming back to Sheridan is fun,” said Giroux, in an e-mail interview. “A lot of our crew comes from Sheridan, and we had a lot of Sheridan help on the film, ranging from camera department to makeup. The cool thing about this is that, with few exceptions, the majority of us didn’t even attend Sheridan at the same time.”
Giroux describes his program as the “first of many stepping stones” to get him into the producer’s role.
“I met an actor by the name of Ry Barrett while I was at my internship on a feature film and we remained friends for many years after I graduated,” said Giroux. “It was through him that I met Chad Archibald, who is also the producer of Antisocial, of Black Fawn Films and we have been working together ever since.”
Antisocial, produced by Black Fawn Films, is a movie about five university friends who gather at a house party to ring in the New Year. Unbeknown to them, an epidemic has erupted outside, causing outbreaks around the world.
“The movie makes heavy statements on the influence of social media within our generation,” said Giroux. “What attracted me to the project was the duality in what the script accomplished: not only was it a smart horror film, but it also paid homage to a lot of the classics, like George A. Romeo’s film Night of the Living Dead.”
The film was nominated at the Catalonian International Film Festival in 2013 for Official Fantastic Panaroma Selection.
“It may have been an unlaughable comedy,” writes Sylvestor Kuo, a critic for Rotten Tomatoes. “Antisocial is a technological horror film that satires the Facebook culture and student life.”
Best Horror Movies review said “Antisocial is a scrappy yet sincere indie zombie flick that wants to find some clever ways of messing with your ideas about the undead while making some observations about society’s dependence on social media and technology.”
Giroux has produced three features with Black Fawn Films and he also has several projects currently on the go.
“We are currently in post-production for Antisocial 2 and in production for ‘The Sublet’,” said Giroux.
The young producer described his journey as a tough one from Sheridan to the workforce.
“Sheridan was a great learning place,” said Giroux. “It’s tough, I won’t lie, but it pushes the limits on learning to give you the most hands-on experience you can get. I was lucky to shoot on 35mm and Super 16mm, which is unheard of now.”
Giroux believes that we should do what we like doing rather than what anyone tells us to do. He gives credit to his family and friends for their utmost support when it came to his work.
“The whole indie film scene simply could not exist without support 24-7,” said Giroux. “Together, my friends and family have been my biggest support system.”
The film is set to screen on Oct. 14 in the SCAET Lecture Hall. For more information visit Sheridancollege.ca/alumni/events.