Letter From the Editor - Fall 2023

I am excited to (finally) share the Fall 2023 issue of SPLICE magazine.

All articles here were written in or for the Fall of 2023, to close out the 45th year since SPLICE’s founding (one year after the Filmpool’s). Additional writing took place in early 2024, with final edits by Amielle Christophersen in March of 2025. Publish dates on these articles are set to when this issue would have hypothetically been released in early 2024.

The Filmpool faced great uncertainty in 2024 and this issue, despite being nearly ready for publication, was put aside. Now that the organization has stabilized and a month away from taking possession of a brand new space—the first move in nearly thirty (!) years—it feels appropriate to finally share the work created by the members.

In this issue we find a range of retrospectives: Colton Bates’ travel diary from the Wolsey drive-in theatre; Marzia Kamyabi-Chambers’ reflections on acting instruction; Esperanza Sanchez Espitia engages with the Filmpool’s 45 years of history (at the time of writing)  through the future represented at the 2023 YFAIR program; I interview Jeremy Ratzlaff about his career and short film Fear & Trembling (then on the festival circuit),, as well as break down the first two years of SPLICE’s issues and the struggles to build film foundations in the province. Finally, Sandra Staples speaks to members and staff past and present to recount an abbreviated history of the Filmpool.

This issue also marks outgoing editor Amielle Christophersen’s final issue. A major thank you to Amielle for bringing her professional touch to our organization’s print history and all of her feedback and insight for future editors.

Warmly,

Mattias Graham, President

2026-04-30