Photo by UBC Brand and Marketing
UBC Theatre and Film is proud to recognize our Class of 2023 graduates. They have grown into remarkable artists, practitioners and scholars, and into even more inspiring members of our greater Theatre and Film community. We are thrilled to celebrate their achievements today, and we cannot wait to see what they do next!
Message from Stephen Heatley, Head of the Department of Theatre and Film
To the remarkable graduates of the Department of Theatre and Film on your graduation:
Graduation day can be bittersweet as we say goodbye and good luck to all of the students we have come to know and treasure and who are moving on to the next exciting stages of their lives. Congratulations on this monumental achievement! You deserve to be proud of your hard work, dedication, creativity, and determination. There have been times of frustration and discouragement, but you have prevailed, and the world is a better place because of you. The 2020s have demanded that we all learn new ways of being with each other to keep ourselves and our community safe and healthy, both physically and mentally. As we move towards a new era, remember the lessons of the last three years, and always be prepared to pivot—with grace, humility, and flair.
I encourage you to not be strangers. The Department of Theatre and Film is your artistic and scholarly home, and you will always be welcomed back to participate in any of our many activities—readings, symposia, screenings, productions. Remember, we are the storytellers, and the events of the past few years will need to be recorded, reflected on, and shared. We will tell of the bravery and the heartbreak, of the joy, and the despair. Stories are our lifeblood, and it is through the power of the theatre, the cinema, and the media that these stories will be told and retold so that together, we can better appreciate the rich complexities of what it means to be human.
Stay safe, stay curious, and stay in touch.
Wishing you all the very best on this special day.
Cheers,
Stephen
Undergraduate
Caylee Watrin (She/Her)
Caylee is an actor and writer from Vancouver. She grew up doing local theatre, writing and directing her own plays, then she pursued theatre at the Fringe Fest (Just Watch Me, Daniel McLeod) and UBC (Oil, Moya A O'Connell) (The Wolves, Leora Morris). She has booked two US National Commercials (Pep Talks, TOYOTA) (The Chase, APPLE), a Principal role on Apple+ TV's "Home Before Dark," and has starred in multiple short films. When Caylee is not auditioning or on set, she works as a 1st AD.
Simran Dhinjal (She/Her)
Simran, a filmmaker from Pune, Maharashtra, India, explores intergenerational trauma and everyday life infused with a psychological twist in her work. Recognized with the Women in Film Award at the POV Film Festival, she stands out for producing seven short films and serving as the Production Manager at UBC Film Society. Currently, she works as a Finance and Administrative Coordinator, delving into the business side of the film industry at CMPA-BC, aiming to learn the intricacies of film production. Simran aspires to establish her own studio, fostering opportunities for innovative storytelling. Most weekends, you can find her working as a 1st AD, continually enhancing her experience.
Graduate
Tamar Hanstke (She/Her)
Tamar Hanstke is a recent graduate of UBC's MA in Cinema and Media Studies program, and previously received her BA Honours in Film Studies from UBC. During her time as an MA student, she won the Film and Media Studies Association of Canada's 2022 graduate student essay prize, and also served as the graduate student representative for the same association from 2022-2023. She recently completed her MA degree with a thesis entitled "What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Genre Film?: A Case for the Cinephilm as Subgenre", and is currently completing the first semester of her PhD in Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto's Cinema Studies Institute.
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While our congratulatory message extends to all of our Fall 2023 graduates, this post only includes the profiles of students who have opted-in to be featured.
