Ravi Srinivasan, TIFF senior programmer, dies at 37

His smile would brighten up the room, said all who knew him.

Ravi Srinivasan, senior manager of festival programming for TIFF, died suddenly on Saturday.

The 37-year-old’s death devastated not only his family and friends but also sent shock waves through Toronto’s arts community.

The last person to speak with Ravi was his girlfriend, Vivien Belik, who found him in his living room two days after they returned from a Mexican vacation. She did not want to speak to the media. Neither she nor Ravi’s older brother, Hari Srinivasan, saw signs of recent illness, although his brother told the Star Ravi had been experiencing heart palpitations the last couple of months.

“My brother always had a good spirit, he loved everyone, he was a very positive person,” said his brother. “It was his heart. It just … the doctor said sometimes it (the heart stopping) just happens.”

The brothers lost both their parents to sudden deaths, a traumatic experience which inspired Ravi to write a short film. “Sudden Death” follows the lives of two families affected by sudden arrhythmic death syndrome, according to IMDB. The syndrome is a fatal condition where someone dies suddenly from cardiac arrest but the cause cannot be determined.

Ravi seemed well, Hari told the Star, but recently he had seen a doctor — in his hometown of Sarnia, as he could not get a doctor in Toronto — to investigate the heart palpitations.

“They said he was suffering from high blood pressure which runs in the family, and they gave him a prescription. I think he was doing well with that,” Hari said.

Ravi last called his older brother Thursday evening about picking up Joni, his Bernese Mountain dog, who Hari was taking care of. The brothers were close.

Many who knew Ravi, like Magali Simard, a former colleague at TIFF, spoke of his joyful smile and zest for life.

“It’s very shocking news. (He was) a staunch supporter of Canadian and international cinema, and above all, a special person with an undeniable sense of fun and joy,” said Simard, Ravi’s friend of 10 years.

“It is impossible to meet Ravi and not love him right away.

“We often talked about the future — love, travels, career, you name it.”

She recalled one instance when one of their talks got them in a bit of a pickle.

“He blew the surprise getaway I had prepared for my girlfriend, not remembering it was a surprise. We laughed so hard as he blurted it out. His excitement was 10 times better than the surprise itself would’ve been.”

Ravi was authentic and compassionate about the film industry and cared about the filmmaker, said director Arshad Khan, who met him when Ravi worked for Hot Docs.

“He would be rushing from one screening to another, introducing films he felt passionate about,” said Khan, who relied on Ravi’s advice on the film industry and was touched by his love for Pakistani cinema.

“He was moved by the Pakistani film ‘Joyland,’ which he predicted would go to Oscars,” Khan said. “He cared for South Asian cinema.”

According to Ravi’s profile on the TIFF page, his favourite films were “In a Year of Thirteen Moons,” “A Woman Under the Influence” and “White Men Can’t Jump.”

Ravi worked closely with senior TIFF programmer Steve Gravestock, and many saw Ravi as Gravestock’s successor as lead Canadian programmer. Gravestock’s team declined to comment, saying he is still processing news of his friend’s passing.

“We are saddened and shocked to learn of the sudden passing of our colleague and friend,” Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, said in a statement late Sunday. “As a programmer, champion for filmmakers and director of his own hometown film festival in Sarnia, Ravi was known to many for his passion, his generosity and the joy he brought to cinema.

“For Ravi, who drew on both his 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.”

Born and raised in Sarnia, Ont., Ravi was of Filipino and Indian heritage. He earned a bachelor’s degree in film and English literature at Wilfrid Laurier University and studied film and television production at Sheridan College. Ravi had worked at TIFF since 2013, programming and screening more than 300 films a year. His last role at TIFF was senior manager for festival programming, focusing on films from South Asia, the Philippines and Canada. He also contributed substantially to projects such as Hot Docs and Reel Canada, which produces National Canadian Film Day.

In 2015, Ravi founded the South Western International Film Festival (SWIFF) in his hometown of Sarnia. In 2016, he was named to the Sarnia Mayor’s Honours list for launching SWIFF. Ravi invested his time and his own money into organizing the festival, according to local media.

“We want to help make Sarnia a place where young people can create films,” he said in an interview with the Sarnia Journal in 2015, talking about his dreams of turning Sarnia into a cultural hub and inspiring young filmmakers.

Dave Hunter, a close friend of the Srinivasan brothers, started a GoFundMe page on Sunday to cover funeral and memorial service costs. As of Monday, more than $80,000 has been raised.

“I’ve known Ravi since he was four, he was like a brother to me,” Hunter said.

Ravi’s “laugh could fill any room. The donations stem from people in the film industry to friends to strangers. That is a testament to how loved he was.”

Irem Koca is an Ottawa-based staff reporter for the Toronto Star. Follow her on Twitter at @iremreports

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