1. Ian Bawa
2. Iain Brynjolson
3. Jordan Welwood

When asked what he does, Ian Bawa laughs and replies that he does “a little bit of everything”.

As a director, producer, actor, radio host, and PR manager, Bawa fills a number of different roles around Winnipeg.

However, Bawa’s path into the field of media was not a direct one. Graduating from the University of Winnipeg with a degree in Politics and Criminal Justice, he decided to use an honorarium intended for law school to fund his first year of film school.

“By my third year, I met my three friends who I basically film with all the time [Milos Mitrovic, Fabian Velasco and Markus Henkel] and a movie I did for my undergrad did really well at the U of W Student Film Festival and I was like, oh, maybe I’m not too bad at this!”

Bawa speaks to the universal appeal of movies as one reason for his enjoyment of them.

“Everyone likes movies...whenever you have an awkward conversation with someone, and you don’t know what to talk about with them, you can always bring up movies, because most people have at least a favorite movie … it’s a general mass appeal.”

Currently, Bawa is promoting his latest film projects Under the Neon Lights, which he produced, and Offline, co-directed with Markus Henkel and Benjamin Lenz. Offline won both the Special Jury Award and the Audience Choice Award at the 2013 University of Winnipeg Student Film Festival. It has been screened at 12 film festivals internationally, including at the Rüsselsheim Filmtage in Rüsselsheim, Germany, where it won Audience Choice.

In terms of future plans, Bawa is convinced of one thing.

“My friends and always argue-do you want to make money, or do you want to make movies? I don’t care so much about the money, I want to make movies.”

Part of the series: The Uniter 30

Published in Volume 68, Number 14 of The Uniter (December 4, 2013)