Rebecca Mangra

Through storytelling fellowship, three U of T Scarborough students reimagine an ancient Tamil epic

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 22:43:50 +0000

Through storytelling fellowship, three U of T Scarborough students reimagine an ancient Tamil epic

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 01/27/2022 - 17:43

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From left to right: Raina Daniel, Christy Lorentz, and Shajaky Parameswaran are recipients of the U of T Scarborough Library Sophia Hilton Storytelling Fellowship, which, this year, focuses on the Tamil epic The Legend of Ponnivala Nadu (photos supplied)

Rebecca Mangra

Topic

Our Community

Tamil

U of T Scarborough

Undergraduate Students

Students from the University of Toronto Scarborough are reimagining an ancient Tamil epic, bringing it to life in ways that honour its tradition while adapting it for the 21^stcentury.

Through the inaugural U of T Scarborough Library Sophia Hilton Storytelling Fellowship, three U of T Scarborough students were awarded an eight-month opportunity and $4,000 to explore the art and practice of storytelling. This year, the fellowship focuses on the Tamil epic The Legend of Ponnivala Nadu. The title is translated into English as The Land of the Golden River, specifically referencing the Kaveri waterway in India.

The tale begins with the Goddess Parvathi, who created nine farmers and told them to cultivate an expansive, forested land. It follows these men and their families across three generations – through triumphs, defeat, famines, curses, power struggles and gods trying to be helpful. The story’s several principal Hindu deities are faced with the wider challenge of defending a broad set of morals while maintaining balance, fairness and wellbeing in the cosmos at large.

The fellowship was made possible by a donation from the Sophia Hilton Foundation, led by U of T anthropologist Brenda Beck, a specialist in Tamil folklore and the Indian state Tamil Nadu. She is mentoring students throughout the fellowship, which runs until March.

Under her guidance, they are learning how to tell dynamic stories and hone their creative skills.

“My passion is to help make this story relevant to Tamil-Canadians today so that many more students whose families have roots in this cultural area can feel proud of their unique, rich and, to date, largely unknown folk heritage,” Beck says. “This story deserves recognition in the same class as any of the other great epics known to the world. Any and all listeners will be enriched by learning more about it.”

The students will develop, test and execute a variety of storytelling delivery strategies for both online and in-person audiences. Their storytelling abilities will also be tested as they explore a wide variety of teaching plans and topics to develop innovative story-teaching approaches. They have creative freedom to explore mythical and symbolic themes, social justice issues, economic development and the impact on society, immigration and more.

The students come from diverse scholarly and arts backgrounds – a testament to the fellowship’s innovative structure that encourages interdisciplinary approaches to storytelling.

Christy Lorentz, a second-year journalism and English major at U of T Scarborough, applied to the fellowship because storytelling always fascinated her.

“I felt like this fellowship was calling my name,” she says.

Lorentz adds that she most enjoys telling stories through movement using her background in ballet and performance. She hopes to choregraph dances inspired by the themes in The Legend of Ponnivala Nadu.

“There is a universal quality to dance that enables it to transcend linguistic boundaries and make up for where words fall short,” Lorentz says.

She also credits the fellowship’s potential effects on her work as a journalist.

“This fellowship will allow me to actively refine my storytelling and communication skills so that I can better empathize with people and authentically represent their stories in my journalistic career, building meaningful connections that transcend geographical and cultural boundaries.”

Shajaky Parameswaran, a third-year neuroscience major, will be focusing on the women in the story, along with their actions and relationships. She wants to combine both visual and written elements in her final production of the ancient tale.

“I hope to find connections between the modern day and The Legend of Ponnivala Nadu, and share a story where women of all forms can feel empowered and inspired,” Parameswaran says.

Coming from a Tamil cultural background herself, she saw the fellowship as a chance to learn more about her heritage.

“I saw it as an opportunity that would allow me to connect with my language and culture.”

Raina Daniel, a fourth-year philosophy and media studies major, hopes to turn The Legend of Ponnivala Nadu into a live performance series. She credits novelists Gabriel García Márquez and Arundhati Roy as inspirations.

“As someone who has grown up witnessing the relationships in a close-knit, intergenerational family, different depictions of the dramas, joys and sorrows within a bloodline are always fascinating,” Daniel says.

A dancer with a love of music, she is excited to experiment with different mediums to explore how The Legend of Ponnivala Nadu translates across various modes of expression.

“The beauty of dance and music is that they are some of the earliest forms of storytelling – ancient legends packaged in a catchy and entertaining way that can be remembered and passed on,” Daniel says.

“I suppose I just love the idea that these early forms live on today, and we can continue to invent new ways of passing on our favourite tales.”

All three students are currently working together to create a series of podcasts about The Legend of Ponnivala Nadu. They hope to create an archive that can be widely shared later this year. The stories created through the fellowship will also be recorded for the U of T Scarborough Library’s Digital Tamil Collections.

Between Us: U of T alumna Cailleah Scott-Grimes focuses her lens on relationships, difficult conversations

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 14:48:10 +0000

Between Us: U of T alumna Cailleah Scott-Grimes focuses her lens on relationships, difficult conversations

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 07/13/2021 - 10:48

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With a degree in East Asian studies from U of T, Cailleah Scott-Grimes filmed her short Between Us over four days in rural Japan using actors from the LGBTQ2S+ and seniors communities (photo courtesy of Cailleah Scott-Grimes)

Topic

Faculty of Arts & Science

Most people snap a picture or take in the panoramic views when in the mountains. Cailleah Scott-Grimes, however, decided to shoot a short film.

The University of Toronto alumna recently screened her film, Between Us, at Toronto’s recent Inside Out film festival. The short, which won this year’s Lindalee Tracey Award at the Hot Docs Film Festival, follows Kei, a young transgender man, and his queer Canadian partner as they navigate conflicting desires in rural Japan.

Part of Scott-Grimes’s master’s thesis in York University’s film production program, Between Us was filmed in four days in the hot springs of Japan’s Yamagata mountains in November 2019. It features both the LGBTQ2S+ and seniors communities in Japan’s countryside – each important worlds for Scott-Grimes. She says it took her a long time to forge connections in Japan, but that she eventually found them within LGBTQ2S+ communities, and the trans communities specifically.

“Yamagata was where I was living and I decided to film there so I could engage with my friends in the behind the scenes of making the film and bring in new actors,” says Scott-Grimes, who was an East Asian studies (EAS) and visual studies student in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science. “I wanted to weave a story that would talk about the relationship between immigrants in Japan and locals living in a rural area.

“It was cool to bring together trans folks and seniors who would never normally have a chance to meet or work on a project together.”

The filming and casting processes were arduous, but Scott-Grimes says she felt strongly about the project and its story. There were extensive interviews for casting since there was a priority to cast trans and non-binary people in the lead roles. Due to a lack of representation at traditional agencies, she used word-of-mouth to find the actors she needed to tell the film’s narrative in an authentic way.

“It was one of the hardest projects I’ve ever done – for that same reason, it’s also what made it exciting. All of it was about building trust because it was the first time for them [the actors] and also a challenge for me to work in Japanese. I think it set the stage for everyone being more vulnerable and open to trying something new together.”

Between Us (Official Trailer, 2021) from Cailleah Scott-Grimes on Vimeo.

Scott-Grimes has been travelling to Japan for many years on various projects since her graduation from U of T in 2011. A linguaphile and art lover, she says East Asian cultures and languages were not on her radar when she began her studies at U of T.

“I’ve been an artist of various kinds for my entire life,” she says. “When I first came to U of T, I thought I would focus on the visual arts side, but because I love all these other art forms, I eventually realized that film combines all of these mediums. Specifically, I was interested in Japanese films but didn’t know much about them until taking EAS courses. They opened my eyes to Japanese visual art, contemporary painting and film, which were huge influences.”

Scott-Grimes cites EAS Professor Eric Cazdyn and Associate Professor Jotaro Arimori as inspirations.

“There was a Japanese cinema course taught by Professor Cazdyn, which was absolutely pivotal for me. His courses demonstrated different types of filmmaking approaches, some of which, like [Hirokazu] Koreeda’s films, bridge documentary and fiction to create an intimate fly-on-the-wall feeling of family life.

Scott-Grimes adds that the department provided an ideal foundation for her later work.

“I loved Arimori sensei’s classes – he was really fun and so organized,” she says. “It was a great stepping stone to being in Japan and starting to use Japanese more frequently.

“At EAS, the focus was really on staying curious and open-minded. It was allowing other people’s experiences to really shine through – for example, taking interdisciplinary approaches and not looking at things from one angle. Those things were so important to learn – a film lives and dies in your ability to collaborate.”

Her advice for new graduates? “If you’ve got an interest or passion, follow it – no matter how small or niche it may seem.”

She offers an example from her own life in which she is an a capella singer in addition to being a film maker. One day, she says, someone called her about an opportunity to film a capella concerts in Japan – a collision of her interests she never saw coming.

“Whatever your interests or talents are, somebody is out there looking for you. Think about what your strengths are and what excites you.”

For Scott-Grimes, what excites her is film and the possibilities of artistic storytelling. When asked what people should take away from Between Us, she says she hopes that audiences can think deeply about the relationships in their lives and what tough questions are not being answered.

“I see this film as asking: How do we initiate conversations that are difficult to have? We know we need to have them, but don’t know where to start. Even within the umbrella of LGBTQ2S+, there is so much variety and so many different kinds of experiences. I wanted the film to be a bridge between generations, different cultural backgrounds and identities. It’s meant to spark questions and hope.”