Film producer-director Barry Avrich is pictured in the projection booth at a Toronto screening room, May 3 , 2016.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Hollywood's most legendary power players are coming to Ryerson – in a sense. Earlier this week, the Toronto university announced that its faculty of communication and design will house the film archive of Canadian director and producer Barry Avrich.
The collection, a portion of which was previously housed at the TIFF Lightbox, includes the original masters of such Avrich documentaries as The Last Mogul (about studio executive Lew Wasserman), Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project (about the onetime Miramax chief) and Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story (about the Penthouse honcho). Thousands of hours of raw interview footage will accompany the masters.
Ryerson will also house materials related to filmed versions of such Stratford Festival productions as King Lear, Love's Labours Lost and The Taming of the Shrew, as well as Avrich's collection of silk-screen movie posters featuring the work of legendary artist Saul Bass.
"This is a priceless collection for us, consisting of contemporary Canadian films and materials that can be used in all aspects of student work and research," Charles Falzon, dean of the school's faculty of communication and design, said in a statement. "The opportunities are endless for this collection and the interviews, articles and footage will become assets for journals, documentaries and performances."
Avrich, who produced this past Sunday's edition of the Canadian Screen Awards, attended Ryerson as a student. "It was here that I picked up my first film camera," he said in a statement. "My hope is that this collection will be used by students and researchers across campus for many years to come."
Barry Hertz