Who we are, what we do
Founded in 2008
Adventures in film 2014
Developing of Documentary and Drama Productions
Cinematography
Directing
Screen-play writing
Lighting
Film Production
Stop Motion and 2D Animation
Acting for the Camera
Post Production, Editing
Professional Movie Protocol
Creating Sound for Film
Marketing
And More
We are visited by industry professionals to further your knowledge and confidence concerning industry filmmaking. You will also have an awesome time, have fun, and get inspired
"This is the future" Final production 2015
The Powell River Digital Film School is here to help emerging talent cut its teeth on creative projects using state-of-the-art facilities, while developing a strong and commercial infrastructure within Powell River.
Students will learn not only how to move into this industry within the many positions available, but will also develop skills as team players, problem-solvers, communicators, as well as tolerant, higher-level thinkers. They will not only learn how to make films but also why we make films. They will not only learn about themselves but also about each other.
Within our FILM program, our goal is to give students more than an education. It is to provide them with a concrete first step towards a future career. Using industry-standard procedures and equipment, students will develop hands-on abilities with equipment used in television, documentary, and dramatic film as well as learn the professional work ethic and protocol of working successfully in the industry.
Our instructors have years of experience in their fields. Our facilities provide individual state-of-the art workstations designed to enhance individual attention. Students will be involved in a variety of filming projects, lectures, and workshops. Emphasis will be on creative intuition and participation.
Student production Voiceover session.
Youth from anywhere in BC can attend the program at no charge, but only if they have not graduated high school. International students are excepted as well and could click here for more information. We also have a scholarship program for out of town students living in BC.
If graduated you are welcome to attend for a tuition fee and a monthly fee for Billeting in Powell River. Please find more information on Powell River here.
If you live outside the Powell River area — no problem. So far, we have billeted B.C. students from Port Moody, Terrace, Comox, Nanaimo, Langley, Creston, Campbell River and Kelowna. They’ve enjoyed the balance of laid-back coastal living AND all of the recreational and cultural activities available in Powell River.
Check out this website to discover what it’s like to stay in Powell River.
Once you successfully complete our versatile film course, your Powell River digital film school graduation certificate will help you further your filmmaking career in post-secondary applications. In addition to your 20 high school credit you will have acquired an additional 3 university credits from the prestigious Emily Carr university film program.
Please fill out an application here if you are interested in joining our team in February of the following year. Applications are due by September of the prior year.
It’s all waiting for you here in Powell River. For further information please contact us at:
Tiffany Smith - Aerial Photography 2015
Learn exciting new skills in a beautiful country. Discover the fun of Canada’s west-coast lifestyle. Create a portfolio of films that you’ve written, edited, and produced.
It’s all waiting for you in Powell River, part of spectacular British Columbia. Please contact us for more information.
Please fill out online form here and we hope to see you in February.
Please note: all graduating students of our film courses receive an honourary certificate.
Lead Instructor / Founder
Tony studied Film and Television in New York as well as the Norman Jewison Canadian Film Centre in Toronto. Producing films and television for over 20 years, Papa has won numerous awards for his work including a Gemini For Best Documentary for his feature Doc entitled Suzuki Speaks. Papa ran a successful production company called Avanti Pictures for 12 years in Vancouver BC. producing many award winning films for television and the screen. In 2008 Papa founded the Powell River Digital Film School in Powell River BC. In connection with Capilano University, positioned as a University transition course.
Filmmaking involves leadership, problem solving and team work. It involves communication. It is about working towards a common goal working together. It’s about overcoming the lack of resources and producing creative works that answer questions, reveal information and inspire. It’s about seeing your work presented to an audience and your ideas communicated to others. Inspiring others as well as becoming a better person.
Within that framework, from idea to presentation, there is plenty of potential for the integration of curriculum goals, learning outcomes, higher order thinking skills, and technical learning. At the same time, the filmmaking process is also about developing awareness, creativity and self-esteem.
As well as teaching the "how to's" of filmmaking, it is also important to ask "why" we make film? Why tell the story? Why does it matter? These are questions our students begin to answer as they enjoy the learning process? Students discover their potential, their community, their family and themselves in this process.
As we learn to make films we look at the fast-changing world outside the classroom and suggest how filmmaking, as a leaning tool, can help prepare our children for a global, visual, information-saturated, media intensive planet.
We are living in a visual world. A world that has led to a new visual literacy which, whether we like it or not, will increasingly surround our children and become the primary form of communication of the new millennium. We will look at how exponential change in computing, bandwidth and technology are changing how we learn and what we learn both inside and outside the walls of the classroom.
tonypapafilms@gmail.comWriter / Producer
Christian has written many screenplays that have been produced and continues to work in the industry as a writer and producer. What he brings to the Film School is invaluable and wonderful.
Christian on IMDBWriting Instructor
It’s all about stories.
Whether they’re on the web, in a magazine, book, government plan, or on TV, stories are what grab people by the heart. Everyone loves a story. That’s what I do: take facts and ideas, interview people, add imagination, clarity, and organization, and produce written stories that inspire — an action, organization, reader or audience.
“To call forth the mind and heart of others, one’s own work has to be from the mind and heart. You must be willing to ask real questions: What are the issues? What are the possibilities? What do you feel? What local stories do you have to tell?” – Jean Houston, A Mythic Life
Heather Conn is an author, award-winning freelance writer, editor, and writing instructor/coach. She wrote, produced, and directed the 2013 short documentary A New Way: An Organic Garden Changes Lives and has co-written two short films for Bravo! TV: Divine Waters, and Corona Station. The latter screened at a number of film festivals in North America, including Vancouver International Film Festival. She has also written segments for the children’s show Hopscotch for CBC-TV Vancouver.
Heather taught screenwriting as a full-time instructor in professional writing at Selkirk College in Castlegar, BC. She has also taught creative writing at Simon Fraser University at Harbour Centre and for the Vancouver School Board and Vancouver Coastal Health. She has created and facilitated numerous private writing workshops in a variety of genres, and has been an instructor at Powell River Digital Film School since 2011.
Heather has published in 50+ magazines and newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, Georgia Straight, Reel West, and Canadian Geographic. She is the author of Gracie’s Got a Secret (MW Publishing, 2011) and co-author of Vancouver’s Glory Years (Whitecap Books 2003). Former corporate communications manager for BC Transit, she wrote the commemorative book Vancouver’s Trolley Buses 1948-1998 for a fiftieth anniversary event.
As owner of Sunshine Coast SoulCollage®, Heather offers workshops in creative self-discovery to diverse groups in the Pacific Northwest. She has an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goucher College, Baltimore. Find out more at www.heatherconn.com and www.heatherconnblogs.com.
Director Of Photography
Danny started his career as a maverick young cinematographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. After making a dozen of his own short films, he excelled behind the camera, shooting various projects around the world. In recent years, he has served as Director of Photography on many TV movies and over 20 feature films, including Tristar’s “The Big Hit”, Neil Simon’s “The Goodbye Girl” and Bruce McDonald’s “Hard Core Logo”. Awards for his work include a Gemini (Canada’s Emmy) and top prize from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers. Keeping in time with the latest advancements in technology, he is moving into 3D projects, and has taken several elite 3D cinematography courses in Los Angeles and Vancouver. A patriot of Canadian Cinema, Danny is devoted to the development of the indigenous and international film art.
Props Master
David Perun’s involvement in the arts began over 30 years ago in Toronto, when he worked creating props for the live operatic production of “Ra” by Canadian composer Murray Schaeffer. David’s art training includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Quebec in Montreal, with a major in sculpture. While in Montreal he also studied art history at the University of Concordia and Life Drawing under Francois Barbeau & Francois Vincent at the National Theatre School.
David has received several recognitions and awards for his artwork. His awards include the McAbbie Award in fine art and his installation piece “Train”, part of a juried group exhibition in Montreal, was featured on the CBC news. He has been involved in community art projects in Toronto, Montreal, Santa Fe and Vancouver.
David continues to work as a Property Master in film production where he has helped to design and create props for over 35 Hollywood productions. A list of his film work can be found on the ‘Internet Movie Data Base’ at: www.imdb.com
David with his wife Audrey and daughter Sophia moved to Powell River in 2005.
Tech Support
Lowell was a student of the school in the founding year of 2008. He went to the Capilano Motion Picture Program and eventually returned to Powell River and works as an assistant to the school with tech support as well as instruction on steady cam, pixilation, social media, and more.
Website Manager
Nicole Collings was a student of PRDFS in 2018. She currently works as a freelance web developer and is the manager of the Powell River Digital Film School Website.