Ravi Srinivasan, senior manager of festival programming at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), has died. He was 37.
No cause of death has been made public as of yet, but Srinivasan's passing was sudden and took place over the weekend.
"We are saddened and shocked to learn of the sudden passing of our colleague and friend Ravi Srinivasan," the festival tweeted last night (January 15), ahead of a thread — written by TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey — honouring the programmer, which reads:
As a programmer, champion for filmmakers, and director of his own hometown film festival in Sarnia, Ontario, Ravi was known to many for his passion, his generosity and the joy he brought to cinema.
Ravi's love for film lit up rooms. [His] deep knowledge of cinema and his passion for film as an inclusive art form helped transform film culture in Canada.
For Ravi, who drew on both his Filipino and his Indian immigrant heritage in his work, representation always mattered. It was built into how he viewed films, and how he invited all audiences to engage with the stories on screen that moved them.
I was fortunate enough to work with Ravi for nearly a decade. I always appreciated his sharp perspectives on films, but what I loved most was his sense of humour and his generosity to all.
Ravi Srinivasan embraced life, movies and people, in all their complexity. We will miss him dearly.
After studying English literature and film at Wilfrid Laurier and film and television production at Sheridan College, Srinivasan joined TIFF as a seasonal programming associate in 2013. Deeply proud of his Filipino and Indian cultural roots, he founded the South Western International Film Festival (SWIFF) in his hometown of Sarnia in 2015.
Srinivasan became a programmer for Canadian and International feature films at TIFF in 2019, ahead of taking on the full-time role as the senior manager of festival programming last year. According to his TIFF bio, the programmer watched 300 movies per year, as well as listening to Big Thief and Sharon Van Etten and cheering on the Toronto Raptors and Blue Jays.
A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign has been launched to cover funeral and memorial expenses, which you can see below.
No cause of death has been made public as of yet, but Srinivasan's passing was sudden and took place over the weekend.
"We are saddened and shocked to learn of the sudden passing of our colleague and friend Ravi Srinivasan," the festival tweeted last night (January 15), ahead of a thread — written by TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey — honouring the programmer, which reads:
As a programmer, champion for filmmakers, and director of his own hometown film festival in Sarnia, Ontario, Ravi was known to many for his passion, his generosity and the joy he brought to cinema.
Ravi's love for film lit up rooms. [His] deep knowledge of cinema and his passion for film as an inclusive art form helped transform film culture in Canada.
For Ravi, who drew on both his Filipino and his Indian immigrant heritage in his work, representation always mattered. It was built into how he viewed films, and how he invited all audiences to engage with the stories on screen that moved them.
I was fortunate enough to work with Ravi for nearly a decade. I always appreciated his sharp perspectives on films, but what I loved most was his sense of humour and his generosity to all.
Ravi Srinivasan embraced life, movies and people, in all their complexity. We will miss him dearly.
As a programmer, champion for filmmakers, and director of his own hometown film festival in Sarnia, Ontario, Ravi was known to many for his passion, his generosity and the joy he brought to cinema.
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) January 15, 2023
After studying English literature and film at Wilfrid Laurier and film and television production at Sheridan College, Srinivasan joined TIFF as a seasonal programming associate in 2013. Deeply proud of his Filipino and Indian cultural roots, he founded the South Western International Film Festival (SWIFF) in his hometown of Sarnia in 2015.
Srinivasan became a programmer for Canadian and International feature films at TIFF in 2019, ahead of taking on the full-time role as the senior manager of festival programming last year. According to his TIFF bio, the programmer watched 300 movies per year, as well as listening to Big Thief and Sharon Van Etten and cheering on the Toronto Raptors and Blue Jays.
A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign has been launched to cover funeral and memorial expenses, which you can see below.
