By Monica Alcalde
Independent documentary maker Andrew Fiore’s dreams have just come true with the distribution of his first film Becoming Sound.
Fiore, a Ryerson RTA graduate, feels he’s on a totally different level now after completing his first 60-minute video piece.
“It’s just a different world from doing pieces of 30 minutes and under,” Fiore says. “It seems that now I can command more money [for my films].”
Becoming Sound was completed in early 1997 after a two-year period of research and production. The documentary explores several holistic therapies for the treatment of cancer.
The road to success has been long and hard for Fiore, and he is glad to be where he is now, running his independent business Fiore Film and Video.
“I only registered my business two years ago,” he says. “Before then I did corporate videos, I basically freelanced.”
Fiore, who graduated in 1990, began building his career in the radio field when he came to Rye. In his first year at Ryerson he worked at CJRT-FM 91.1, and also interned at CKFM 99.9 and CFRB 1010.
After graduation it was Fiore’s persistence at the Ryerson Career Centre that provided him with the opportunities to foster his film interests.
“About 70 per cent of the jobs came from frequenting the employment centre,” he says. “The other 30 per cent came by word of mouth.”
Fiore recalls placing ads in both Now and Eye magazines advertising cheap video production. One of the ads landed him a job producing a music video, and with the help of a friend the video was aired on MuchMusic’s Indie Street.
Last year, Fiore gained more experience in the field as a cameraman for the Life Network show Great Canadian Outdoor Adventures and as an editor for the Rogers production Kids TV.
Now 32, Fiore’s first documentary Becoming Sound has met with considerable success marked by sales to several postsecondary institutions, community health centres and libraries.
“Community health centre eat it up,” says Fiore optimistically. “The 70 per cent of libraries that I have contacted are interested in seeing it.”
Although Fiore has had much success with Becoming Sound, his ambitions do not end there.
He says he has a couple of other projects on the horizon and eventually wants to make feature films.
“I want to make people see what is on my mind,” he says. “Film gives me that opportunity.”
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