Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Listen to NSI Totally Television alumni Karen McClellan on latest TV, eh? podcast

Posted: 03 Jul 2018 02:36 PM PDT

Karen McClellan, NSI Totally Television alumni and exec producer/co-showrunner on The Next Step, is featured on the latest TV, eh? podcast in an interview with Greg David.

Karen’s credits cover an array of drama and comedy, including the award-winning series Cracked, Being Erica and Robson Arms. She has developed one-hour and half-hour shows for all the major Canadian broadcasters. Karen has been nominated for several Writers Guild of Canada awards for her work and won the award for her web series, Spiral.

Listen to the podcast.

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The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw from Shelley Niro, Floyd Kane wraps production

Posted: 29 Jun 2018 11:19 AM PDT

Upcoming feature film The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw from writer / director / producer Shelley Niro (pictured, Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program) and producer Floyd Kane (NSI Totally Television) has wrapped production.

The story follows a young Indigenous woman who reluctantly returns to her reserve to help her father care for her mother. When she comes home she encounters three spirits who encourage her to go on adventures.

The film stars Morningstar Angeline (Longmire), Andrew Martin (Fire Song), Gail Maurice (Assini), Billy Merasty (Indian Horse), Gary Farmer (Deadman), Vance Banzo (Indian Horse), Ajuwak Kapasheit (Indian Horse) and Roseanne Supernault (Rhymes For Young Ghouls).

LevelFILM holds the Canadian rights to the feature and is planning a 2019 theatrical release.

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Projects from NSI grads among 23 web series receiving Bell Fund support

Posted: 29 Jun 2018 11:14 AM PDT

Bell Fund recently announced 23 web series they’re funding as part of their short form digital series (fiction) program.

Over $4.1 million in grants has been approved including over $1 million to help support the discoverability plans for these series. Supporting audience engagement strategies is a priority for the fund.

Three projects from NSI grads made the cut:

Mystery and adventure abound when three sixth grade nerds and the school bully purposely get themselves thrown into detention after discovering the entrance to a labyrinth of tunnels, laden with traps and riddles, protecting Alexander Graham Bell’s hidden laboratory.

Thirty-somethings Jane and Charlie have long given up on having a baby the fun way. They have also given up on having a baby the medically invasive way too. But while they lack the genetic components to make a child, they refuse to give up on being parents altogether.

A small-minded con artist with dreams of being the world’s laziest fisherman conspires to steal back his family’s fishing business from his crafty uncle.

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More Canadian screening dates for Geoff Redknap and Katie Weekley’s The Unseen

Posted: 29 Jun 2018 09:55 AM PDT

Geoff Redknap (NSI Drama Prize, NSI Features First) and Katie Weekley (NSI Drama Prize, NSI Features First, NSI Totally Television) have announced additional Canadian screening dates for their feature film The Unseen:

In a modern retelling of the classic The Invisible Man, The Unseen is the story of Bob (Aden Young), a struggling mill worker who mysteriously abandoned his family and isolated himself in a small northern town. He returns for one last chance to reconnect with his troubled daughter Eva (Julia Sarah Stone), but when Eva goes missing, Bob will risk everything to find her, including exposing the secret that he is becoming invisible.

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Danis Goulet, Anthony Leo invited to Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Posted: 28 Jun 2018 02:39 PM PDT

Big congrats to Danis Goulet (NSI Drama Prize) and Anthony Leo (NSI Totally Television) on being invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Academy extended invitations to 928 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures.

New members will be welcomed into the Academy at invitation-only receptions in the fall.

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CBC and Creative BC announce $300K digital production fund

Posted: 28 Jun 2018 01:10 PM PDT

Creative BC and CBC have announced a new joint $300K fund which aims to support the production of digital content from emerging creators. The two organizations will each contribute $150,000 to the CBC + Creative BC Digital Production Fund.

Content creators will also have the opportunity to showcase their projects to a national audience on the public broadcaster’s extensive digital platforms, including the CBC TV app and cbc.ca/watch.

In order to be eligible to apply, applicants must live in British Columbia and be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada and be an eligible BC company, and projects must have a minimum budget of $15,000 up to a maximum of $50,000.

Funding is limited to genres that qualify for British Columbia’s domestic motion picture tax credits.

A core objective of the program is to fund diverse talent, and preference will be given to female, Indigenous and visible minority creators as well as creators with a disability, bringing their unique voices and relevant content forward. The fund aims for at least 50% of successful projects to be driven by female creators.

Application submissions will open on July 3 and remain open until all funding has been allocated or until December 1, 2018.

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The Big Top Fury

Posted: 28 Jun 2018 12:30 PM PDT

A circus clown steps into a boxing ring against a brute robotic man and attempts to win the bout using gags instead of punches.

Creative team

Writer/director: Mick Rochon
Producers: Mick Rochon, Pieter Stathis

Filmmaker’s statement

Gotta love Saturday morning cartoons and afternoon matinees as a kid. This magic vaudeville was beamed down from some unknown planet out there and it didn’t matter where. Then it was explained to me where it actually came from and that was that. I wanted to be a film guy when I grew up.

Several years later I wrote a short film called Sparky Versus Rocco that aired on Super Channel for a year and a half or so. The new experience of making my own film was exhilarating and painful, to put it mildly. There’s no film school out there that can teach what it’s really like to make your own movie and get them in front of an audience. Sparky Versus Rocco was my first ‘calling-card’ and could not have been made without the unparalleled devotion of the cast, crew, friends and family who are all the same bunch.

Sparky Versus Rocco was a success but it wasn’t the film I originally set out to make (welcome to filmmaking 101). It was okay but I was constrained by the self-funded budget and the limitations of the day’s technology. I knew what I wanted to say with the film but it never quite came out that way.

Years later technology literally advanced right before my eyes. It became affordable to carry a whole post-production studio in my backpack. I began to experiment with digitized 16mm Sparky Versus Rocco footage and outtakes with one thing leading to another.

I learned to how to edit film and produce my own visual effects. I wrote a new script I called The Big Top Fury. It had a similar premise to Sparky Versus Rocco but was a new story with different characters, new dialogue, new music and all-new scenes that would pack a punch, so to speak.

Cut to present day. The Big Top Fury would become my greatest lesson in perseverance so far. It’s the film I originally wanted to make and much more. Thank you to everyone who excelled in their respective talents and waited patiently with me for all those right moments.

We now beam The Big Top Fury to you from some unknown planet.

About Mick Rochon

Mick Rochon grew up on various Canadian Forces military bases but he and his family eventually settled in Winnipeg. Mick became an avid musician, performing in rock bands as a teen to which he jokes “If you didn’t want to read my scripts, then you had to listen to me play guitar.”

He studied visual communications that led to a career in graphic arts and printing. A decent promotion in his field led to a decision to respectfully decline the offer and make the move to the robust movie industry in Vancouver and develop a long-standing career in film locations management.

In his position Mick routinely worked in one-on-one collaborations with world-renowned filmmakers whom he admired in his youth: “Finding the perfect film location for a director was a perfect opportunity to study my mentors up close, ask questions and develop my own ideas for making a movie.”

With this experience (and never taking his position for granted), Mick proved he would not squander an opportunity to initiate his first independent film Sparky Versus Rocco. Recently, he is proud to release the short film The Big Top Fury.

Mick currently resides in Vancouver. Having worked on over 200 productions including television movies, series and feature films, he divides his occupation between being a ‘hired gun’ location scout with producing his first feature film Cirrus, a science fiction about a spectacular future that may have already happened.

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NSI grads accepted to Telefilm’s 2018 Talent to Watch program

Posted: 28 Jun 2018 11:25 AM PDT

Telefilm recently announced the projects selected for their Talent to Watch program including three recommended by the National Screen Institute as a partner organisation of the program.

Projects recommended by NSI

Projects from NSI grads

The Talent to Watch Program funds content creators on their first feature films and narrative web projects. The program aims to support emerging filmmakers, accelerating their careers, and to allow them to develop an expertise in digital marketing and the promotion of audiovisual projects.

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ENOUGH | The Empowered Women of Korogocho by Brent Foster + 1 more film in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival

Posted: 25 Jun 2018 11:05 AM PDT

Two new films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival from directors Brent Foster and Jon Mann.

ENOUGH | The Empowered Women of Korogocho

ENOUGH | The Empowered Women of Korogocho | Documentary, 7:40, English with subtitles, ON, 2018 | Director: Brent Foster

The elder women of Nairobi’s most dangerous slum decide it’s time to fight back.

Cahoots

Cahoots | Comedy, 11:07, English, NS, 2017 | Director: Jon Mann

When two friends reconnect with an old, troubled pal and hear about his questionable new career choice, they’re forced to weigh his happiness against their beliefs.

• • •

The NSI Online Short Film Festival is made possible through the support of Festival Partner Telefilm Canada; Supporting Sponsors Corus Entertainment, Blue Ant Media and Breakthrough Entertainment; Award Sponsor A&E Television Networks; and Industry Partner the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

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Stream Maureen Judge’s 1997 doc Unveiled: The Mother Daughter Relationship now on NFB

Posted: 25 Jun 2018 10:52 AM PDT

The 1997 TVO doc commission, verité CSA/Genie Award-winning film Unveiled: The Mother/Daughter Relationship, from Maureen Judge (NSI Global Marketing), is now screening on NFB.ca.

The mother/daughter relationship is a tangled web of emotions, fraught with love, anger, compassion, laughter and joy. But throw a wedding into the mix and everything becomes that much more intense.

Unveiled: The Mother/Daughter Relationship is a candid, revealing look at mothers and daughters in the throes of planning a wedding. The mother/daughter relationships portrayed are wonderful, intense, sad and, at times, very funny.

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