Student Profile: Rider Laskin

“When I was about ten or eleven I started fooling around with my dad’s camcorder, making a lot of videos and if there was a programme I could have done after I finished school I would have done it.”

Rider Laskin’s love and interest in film started at a young age in Langley, but it wasn’t until studying History in college that his interest become a solid possibility. “I took some film courses in college and I’ve always watched a lot of movies. And I’ve always been interested in making movies and so when I [graduated] I started looking around for different programmes and [InFocus] fit my criteria.” Rider’s passion and desire to become a filmmaker is evident – he always knew filmmaking was his calling, and is eager to learn about every aspect of the filmmaking process.

So what is the biggest challenge he’s faced while studying the dream he always wanted to pursue? “I knew it was difficult to make a movie but being here and thinking about movies all day and speaking with the professionals, has reinforced the idea of how difficult it is. It’s such an expensive art form and requires so many resources…it’s daunting.”

If he feels daunted or intimidated about the entire process of filmmaking, it has not stymied his creativity. Rider’s favourite project that he’s worked on so far is “Waiting Room,” a short film he wrote and directed himself: “the experience of making that movie, and [dealing with] all the stress that came with it was invaluable. InFocus has given me a practical skill set which I can use to put my creative energy into; it was very cool to take something that was an inkling of an idea, and eventually turn it into a finished product.”

Check out Rider’s bio project below: