Cochranite and SAIT graduate Fraser Costen was feeling just rosy after receiving an award at the 2022 Alberta Film and Television Awards on Sept. 25.
Costen graduated from SAIT’s Film and Video Production program in April. Before graduating, a documentary he and a team of his peers created won a ROSIE from the Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA).
The documentary, called “Life is a Drag,” follows the journey of a drag king and queen as they show the audience their transformation for an upcoming performance. The short film also touches on their life stories and how drag changed them through their endeavours.
“It was an idea that was pitched in our class when I was at SAIT Polytechnic,” Costen explained. “Another student pitched this idea and myself and director, Rhiannon Evans, really liked it.
“… and so, I said; “Awesome! Let’s do this,” and we took the idea, changed it a little bit, and ran with that.”
Through the creative process in creating the documentary, Costen said he had a vision in mind for how he wanted the sources’ stories to be depicted.
“We got to this really nice core concept of, it’s about change, it’s about showing that change, and how drag is this really positive thing in lots of people’s lives that improve them in tangible ways,” Costen said.
After filming and editing over 100 hours of footage, their efforts paid off when they were selected for a ROSIE award in the Fil Fraser Best Student Production category at the 2022 Alberta Film and Television Awards, which were held in Calgary.
“We kind of went into it with a good amount of confidence and were thinking we were going to do well,” Costen said. “But there’s always that thought in the back of your head that you’re not going to win, but I had a good level of confidence.”
Costen said he enjoyed working alongside his SAIT peers and was proud of the work his team accomplished.
“Duncan McMillan, my cinematographer and editor, is a fantastic person to work with,” he said.
“As well our second cinematographer, Ryan Gourley, an incredible talent who is also from Cochrane which is really awesome to rep that. And everyone in the crew had a really great time.”
With an award already to his name, Costen plans to continue to make more short films. With countless ideas in mind, he intends to find another award-winning production in the near future.
“It’s now just about using this award as a really good stepping stone to go to that next point and try to get myself out there to maybe some producers or anyone who wants to fund me as a producer,” Costen said. “I’d also like to go the independent route and maybe make some shorts around Cochrane, because I love showing off the diverse landscapes we have.
“There’s a lot of stuff on the horizon that I would like to try and do, now that I have this big accomplishment under my belt.”
