But the Ryerson film grad returned to Toronto this week after a prolonged stay in Park City, Utah, where he conducted interviews and attended press junkets to support the short film, Captain Coulier (Space Explorer), which screened as part of Sundance’s international short films program.

“There was no time to do anything,” Gallagher says of the crew’s time at the festival. “It was the opportunity of a lifetime, but it was exhausting.”

Gallagher, who co-produced the film with David Fradkin, travelled to Park City alongside director Lyndon Casey, Casey’s brother, Conor Casey, who stars in the movie, and several other crew members.

The group had submitted the film to multiple film festivals, but never thought they’d be accepted into a festival as internationally renowned as Sundance.

“When I saw the film, especially the art direction, I knew it was something special,” says film professor James Warrack who, along with fellow prof Michael Conford, oversaw production of Captain Coulier.

“We’ve had students’ films accepted to all sorts of festivals, but this to my knowledge is the first time we’ve seen (a student) accepted into something as prestigious as Sundance.”

The film centres on a space explorer who, according to the film’s synopsis, learns that “intergalactic space travel isn’t his shtick,” and must battle space’s most insurmountable obstacle: boredom.

It was chosen to screen out of more than 5,000 submissions to the international short films category. 

“When we went to see the screening, Captain Coulier was listed as fourth or fifth on the program” Gallagher says.  “I was really excited to see the other films, but our film definitely didn’t play fourth or fifth – it came on first, which was great, because none of us really had a chance to get nervous.”

Captain Coulier was the group’s  fourth-year final project.

“If you were taking a more academic field of study, you’d write a thesis,” Warrack explains. “This film is the Ryerson film degree’s equivalent.” Students work on the film over the course of their last year, and put enough effort into it that it will become their “touchstone film,” Warrack says.

And Chris Ciosk, who worked on the film as a production assistant, can attest to the amount of time Casey put into his ideas.  “He’d get into something so seriously that he’d just disappear into the library for weeks at a time.”

“We always hope that our students will achieve a level of success like this,” Warrack says.  And Ryerson is building quite a reputation on the international film stage, having last year seen fellow film grad Josh Raskin’s short film I Met the Walrus nominated for an Oscar.

So now, armed with Ryerson film degrees and a Sundance film under their belts, what’s next for Gallagher and the rest of the crew?

“We met a lot of great industry people while we were in Utah,” Gallagher says.

“And now that we’ve got the ball rolling, I don’t think we can stop.”