Sault native Evan Johnson is once again enjoying success as a University of Windsor film student.
Now in his final year of study before graduating, Johnson and his classmates recently took home eight of 13 awards at the 2025 Mark Boscariol 48-Hour FlickFest Competition for their short film Penitence.
FlickFest is part of the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF). Boscariol was WIFF’s founder.
This year’s festival was held Oct. 23 to Nov. 2.
As Penitence director of photography and editor, the FlickFest award for Best Editing is the most personal for Johnson.
His University of Windsor film school classmates also won Best Screenplay, Best Performance, Best Use of Dialogue, Best Use of Assigned Prop, Best Use of Character, Viewers' Choice Award, and Best of FlickFest for Penitence.
The film was very much a team effort and two other Sault natives - Sam Rosso and Daniel Lance - were involved in the film's production.
Rosso worked as producer and art director, Lance as cast coordinator.
Cast members include:
- Malcom - Rylan Thomas
- Therapist - Heath Camlis
- Lime Ricky - Zach Ublansky
- Girl - Ocean Elise
- Patient - Leon Trautwein
Crew members include:
- Director - Antoine Taouil
- Director of Photography and Editor - Evan Johnson
- Co-Editor - Kendra Schmidt
- Producer and Art Director - Sam Rosso
- Assistant Director - Grace Mclinden
- Screenwriters - Jagger Riddel, Antoine Taouil and Grace Mclinden
- Cast Coordinator - Daniel Lance
- Gaffers/Assistant Camera - Jagger Riddle and Sam Rosso
- Sound Technician - Liam Quinlan
- Makeup - Brookyln Banville
“It was an overwhelming relief,” Johnson told SooToday of his reaction after he and his peers won so many awards for the film.
“This has been our fourth year attending and competing in the Windsor FlickFest. We've had the same crew of people for the last four years and to finally see the hard work of everyone coming together over the last few years and have it pay off on the big screen was pretty cool.”
Penitence was screened at The Capitol Theatre in Windsor on Oct. 31.
The film, though only five minutes in duration, is intense.
It contains mature subject matter and viewer discretion is advised.
It portrays a young man encountering some unusual characters and learning a severe lesson as he makes a pizza delivery.
“We thought ‘hey guys, let's try and make something a little different this year, a little dark’ because for the last few years at WIFF we've been doing a lot of comedies just because they're easy, they're fun, they're light hearted. But this was our last year and we wanted to go a different route,” Johnson said.
Making short films for the FlickFest Competition isn’t easy.
“They give you 48 hours to create, edit and submit a film to the judges. You're given guidelines by the Windsor International Film Festival,” Johnson said.
“They give you a character, they give you a prop, they give you a line of dialogue to work with. You don't necessarily have to make your film entirely around these but they have to be seen or heard in your film for you to be eligible for the film festival. The character that had to be seen in our film is Lime Ricky, a writer who thinks he's in a movie. The prop that had to be seen is a mysterious looking blender. The line of dialogue was ‘who keeps ordering coffins on my credit card?’”
Penitence was filmed at various locations in Windsor from Sept. 19 to 21.
Johnson said he isn’t interested solely in dark films.
“I'm wide open to romance, comedy, the whole thing. I'm open to everything. I've made everything under the sun. I've made comedies, I've made sci-fi's,” he added.
Johnson is no stranger to success in filmmaking.
He and a group of fellow students won best cinematography and best use of character awards for their short film Number 2 at WIFF in 2023.
As a St. Paul Catholic School student in Sault Ste. Marie in 2015, Johnson played the hero in a locally produced film titled Heroes of a Different Kind: Rise of The Dark Panther.
“We were always watching movies at my house. The film at St. Paul set the tone for me and I’ve stayed with film ever since,” he said.
Johnson, 22, will graduate from the University of Windsor’s concurrent education program with an undergraduate degree in communication, media and film in the spring of 2026.
“I'll be qualified to teach high school media but I'm chasing my undergraduate degree in film. I would like to stay in that industry. I'll never turn down an opportunity to shoot or edit a film or act in a film,” Johnson said.
To view Penitence, click here.