Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Register now! Live Q+A webinar with Nadine Arpin, Ryan Cooper on applying for NSI IndigiDocs

Posted: 01 Oct 2018 12:37 PM PDT

If you’re thinking about applying for NSI IndigiDocs, you can register for a live webinar on October 10 with program manager Elise Swerhone and program alumni Nadine Arpin and Ryan Cooper.

They’ll be ready to answer your questions about the application process and what to expect from the training. Get tips and advice to help you put together a great application package ready for the November 5 deadline.

Register for the October 10 webinar. It takes place from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

Nadine Arpin is a two spirited, Red River Basin, Michif director/filmmaker living in Sioux Lookout, Northwestern Ontario, where she has been producing short films since 2013. Nadine is interested in telling stores that blur the lines of legend, memory and truth. Her work uses mixed media, found footage and animation to a create hybrid cinematic experiences.

In 2015, Nadine was selected for NSI IndigiDocs and produced her short film Jane & the Wolf through the program.

In spring 2017 Nadine was selected for the Corus Diverse Voices Scholarship hosted by Hot Docs, received an OAC Northern Arts grant and produced short hybrid documentary Anna Lisa, which is currently on the festival circuit. In 2018 Nadine was chosen by Regent Park Film Festival in Toronto as one of six Canadian filmmakers to produce shorts for their Home Made Visible project.

Nadine’s work has screened at imagineNATIVE, Skábmagovat Indigenous Peoples’ Film Festival, Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, Garifuna International Indigenous Film Festival, and First Nations Film and Video Festival, to name a few.

Ryan Cooper is an Indigenous, two spirited, LGBTQ filmmaker and a recent graduate of the National Screen Institute’s CBC New Indigenous Voices program, under the direction of legendary film and television producer Lisa Meeches (Ice Road Truckers, We Were Children, Taken).

Ryan is focused on producing and writing contemporary, cultural and modern stories in a lighthearted way through scripted and factual storytelling. Ryan is also part of the 2018 NSI IndigiDocs program where he and teammate Charlene Moore have the opportunity to create a 10-minute documentary about Indigenous youth leaving home at 12 years old to finish their basic education.

Ryan also studied new media at Interactive Design Nu Media, and trained in acting at the Academy of Acting. Ryan is from Peguis, the biggest First Nation community in Manitoba. He has trained in theatre at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre, and film and theatre at the University of Winnipeg. Ryan has written many scripts, some of which are optioned and has worked on various films, in various roles. He looks forward to bringing empowerment through film and television and the arts to his home community.

Elise Swerhone co-manages the NSI IndigiDocs course. Her extensive work includes the feature documentaries TuTu Much and Ballet High as well as several documentaries for CBC’s The Nature of Things.

She has made over 30 documentaries which have been shown around the world, including work for the NFB, Global TV, HGTV, Vision, National Geographic and Discovery US. Her dramatic work includes Miss Manitoba, Now & Then, The Mayor of Odessa, episodes of The Adventures of Shirley Holmes and the MOW My Mother’s Ghost.

Elise is also an alumna of NSI DramaLab.

• • •

NSI IndigiDocs offers development and mentorship for up to four producer/director teams to create a short documentary.

During the course, accepted teams will:

NSI IndigiDocs 2017-19 is funded by Program Partners APTN, Manitoba Sport, Culture & Heritage and RBC Emerging Artists Project; Boot Camp Presenting Sponsor Manitoba Film & Music; Strategic Sponsors the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) and documentary Channel; Supporting Sponsors Telefilm Canada, Saskatchewan Media Production Industry Association (SMPIA), Corus Entertainment, Breakthrough Entertainment and the Jim Murphy Filmmakers Bursary; Provincial Sponsors Manitoba Film & Music and Creative BC through the Daryl Duke and William Vince Scholarship Fund; Industry Partners the National Film Board and the Directors Guild of Canada; Industry Supporters imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival and Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival; and Service Sponsor Line 21 Media. NSI Core Funders are Manitoba Sport, Culture & Heritage and the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

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Apply for the Corus-Canada Media Fund Page to Pitch program

Posted: 01 Oct 2018 10:55 AM PDT

Canada Media Fund has announced the 2018 edition of the Corus-CMF Page to Pitch Program, with a program budget set at $1M.

Applications for funding can be submitted until November 20, 2018. Funding through this program can be triggered through a commitment from any broadcaster licensed by the CRTC, including private, public, educational, specialty, pay-per-view broadcasters and CRTC-licensed VOD services.

Now in its sixth year, the program is available to producers seeking funding for creative and business activities during the development of eligible live-action and animated television projects triggered by any CRTC-licensed Canadian broadcaster. It funds eligible costs related to story and script development as well as expenses related to the acquisition of pre-sale financing from foreign broadcasters and distributors.

Projects will be evaluated and chosen through a selective process and could access up to the lesser of 75% of the project’s eligible costs or $75K.

Since 2015-2016, the Corus-CMF Page to Pitch program has financed a total of 59 projects, totalling $2.4M in funding.

Find out more and apply.

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Submit your short to the NSI Online Short Film Festival, deadline December 7

Posted: 01 Oct 2018 10:09 AM PDT

Submissions are now open for the National Screen Institute’s Online Short Film Festival. Films are accepted exclusively through FilmFreeway until Friday, December 7, 2018.

Films that meet award criteria are eligible for the $1,250 A&E Short Filmmakers Award for best film. Read about the most recent winners.

NSI Online Short Film Festival winners receive a complimentary Friend membership for the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and are qualified to be nominated for a Canadian Screen Award (if award criteria are met).

Submit your film.

Entries must be under 30 minutes – the shorter the better. Drama, comedy, animation, documentary, sci-fi, horror, music video and experimental are all eligible but must be made by a Canadian writer, director or producer. The festival accepts films released after January 1, 2013.

The NSI Online Short Film Festival is a year-round Canadian short film showcase with new films added every week. Since launching in 2008, the festival has programmed hundreds of films and awarded over $110K to Canadian media artists. Many of the films are available to watch in the archives.

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.

All media enquiries

Laura Friesen, Manager, Communications & Alumni Relations
Phone: 204.957.2999 or email: [email protected]

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In My Mother’s Closet

Posted: 26 Sep 2018 04:11 PM PDT

Through song and the support of her best friend, Adri reconciles the struggle of wanting to belt out her truth while not wanting to risk her relationship with her religious mother.

Creative team

Writer: Adri Almeida
Directors: Adri Almeida, Carolyn Wu
Producer: Dinaly Tran

Filmmakers’ statement

In My Mother’s Closet explores the intersections of being brown, trans and a woman.

About Adri Almeida

Adri Almeida is a a brown femme singer and emerging artist of theatre, film and the web.

She recently premiered her first musical short film at the Toronto Inside Out LGBT Film Festival in May 2017.

Adri will continue to dream, envision, create, write and sing herself and her intersections into the world’s artistic and creative spaces.

About Carolyn Wu

Carolyn Wu is a cis queer Chinese writer, director, producer, and QTBIPOC film community organizer.

Since her start at Q on CBC Television, her works have screened at Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Wicked Queer: Boston LGBT Film Festival, and North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

She was selected to be part of Reel Asian’s 2017 First Feature Program, a development launch pad for short filmmakers developing their first feature film.

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The Pits

Posted: 26 Sep 2018 03:59 PM PDT

At 13, Dhruvi is appalled to learn the Indian food she eats every day makes her armpits smell funny.

Her struggle with pungent food and bold spices resurfaces years later, when she’s drawn to a fellow South Asian student in university.

Creative team

Writer/director: Shetu Modi
Producer: Emily Varg

Filmmaker’s statement

Growing up, I participated in Indian folk and classical dance groups, ate Indian food almost every day, visited India with my parents and brother and spoke Gujarati to my grandmother, who often lived with us. I was so involved in cultural activities that it never occurred to me I would ever be ashamed of the less showy and obvious aspects of my culture and the way I was raised.

In university, things changed. When roommates learned how much my mom called, I was embarrassed and apologized even though I liked talking to her every day. I rudely asked my cousin why she still lived with her parents at age 25, even though lots of South Asians live in multi-generational houses. I had an aversion to dating Indian guys – especially Indian guys who still had accents. I thought I was ‘allowed’ to say things like “brown guys are creepy” because I’m brown.

The protagonist of the The Pits, Dhruvi, is an exaggerated version of my younger self. She’s more actively ashamed of being South Asian than I ever was, especially of the more overt aspects, but her character arc represents my progression from a little shame to total acceptance – and love – for my cultural background.

It took me longer to come to this realization; I’m glad I (and Abhay) can help Dhruvi come to it very quickly – even in little ways, like through the acceptance of Indian food and the fact that her perspiration sometimes smells like curry, and in more significant ways, like overcoming xenophobia and internalized racism.

About Shetu Modi

Shetu Modi is a writer, director and editor based in Toronto. Her recent film Hot Air screened at Filmi, Toronto’s South Asian film festival, and the Cinematic Arts Festival in Los Angeles.

The Pits has been accepted into 14 festivals worldwide and received three audience choice awards.

She currently works at the Canadian Press as a video producer and editor.

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