Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Given Your History

Posted: 21 Jul 2016 02:32 PM PDT

Two sisters struggle with their relationship, and their personal fears, several years after the death of their mother.

Creative team

Writer/director: Molly McGlynn
Producer: Laura Perlmutter

Filmmaker’s statement

I wrote this film a few years after my mother passed into the next life from breast cancer.

At that particular point in my twenties, I found myself doing my best but still flailing around a bit. Additionally, my four sisters and I struggled to grieve in our own way which wasn’t always the same.

I wanted to make a film about the aftermath of the death of a parent, in particular a mother, that explored how it affects your relationship to yourself and your own body and sibling dynamics.

I tried to infuse moments of humour and lightness where I could to show cracks of light seeping through the shroud of loss.

About Molly McGlynn

Molly McGlynn is a Toronto-based writer and director.

Her first short film, I Am Not a Weird Person, screened at festivals across North America, was hailed by Lena Dunham as a “special haunting little short” and was featured on Vimeo, Film Shortage, She Does the City, Awardeo.tv, the Jill Soloway curated website Wifey.tv and has more than 100,000 views on HelloGiggles.

Her second short film, Shoes, was featured as a notable project of the week on Indiegogo and was nominated for best short film at the Female Eye Film Festival.

In 2012, Molly received NSI Drama Prize [training] for Given Your History. After screening at international film festivals, including the Anchorage International Film Festival, Dhaka International Film Festival, 2015 WIFT-T Showcase, St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, it aired on CBC in April 2015 and was featured on Air Canada’s En Route.

She began her career at TIFF in the communication and program administration departments. After working as a writer and researcher in factual television, Molly went on to work as executive assistant to Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Deepa Mehta.

Molly graduated from Queen’s University with a bachelor of honours in film studies, and has a graduate certificate from Humber College in writing and producing for television.

She is an alumnus of the Cineplex Entertainment film program writers’ lab at the Canadian Film Centre. In 2015, she was selected as a talent lab resident at the Reykjavik International Film Festival and as a Samsung TIFF emerging director.

She is currently in post-production on a comedy short she wrote and directed called 3-Way (Not Calling), is re-writing a feature adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman with writer/director Francine Zuckerman and is in pre-production on her first feature film, Mary Goes Round, which was recently selected for Telefilm’s Micro-Budget Production Program and will shoot late 2016.

Gordie

Posted: 21 Jul 2016 02:27 PM PDT

The story of a Tlingit First Nations man who has been deeply affected by the inter-generational trauma caused by Canada’s residential schools system.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Traolach Ó Murchú

Filmmaker’s statement

Gordie was made as a part of a 48-hour filmmaking competition in Canada’s Yukon territory.

I stumbled upon the subject of the documentary, James Kawchuk, two days before shooting for the competition was due to commence. He didn’t have time to talk to me but I heard him say a few words at a public gathering that I had wandered into and I knew that he had a story to tell.

When we met two days later in Whitehorse he asked me what we should talk about for the documentary. I told him that I wasn’t sure so he suggested that we go to Carcross, a community located an hour’s drive from Whitehorse. I agreed to this and asked why Carcross was important to him. He replied that it was the place where his brother is buried.

These are the first two things I learned about James: he had a brother and his brother was dead. We spoke throughout the hour-long drive and by the time we reached Carcross I knew what the film was going to be.

About Traolach Ó Murchú

Traolach worked as a television director in Ireland before moving to Canada’s Yukon territory in 2012. He has written and directed a number of short films that have screened at festivals internationally.

He is currently producing and directing French-language television and aims to spend more of his time directing drama and documentary films.

Blackout

Posted: 21 Jul 2016 02:15 PM PDT

Two brothers hold an intervention for their alcoholic mother and discover they may be standing in each other’s way more than her addiction.

Creative team

Writer/director: Jonathan Lawrence
Producers: Jonathan Lawrence, Jordan Popowich

Filmmaker’s statement

It is with great honor and esteem that we showcase this project as part of the NSI Online Short Film Festival.

As a team, this project has and continues to be a labour of love. As a director, I had the opportunity to work alongside the most brilliant collaboration of cast and crew whose boundless talents radiate throughout the film.

We want to thank you for this opportunity to be included alongside the infinite cinematic talent that Canada has to offer. We hope you enjoy our exploration of film.

About Jonathan Lawrence

As a graduate of the University of Winnipeg honours acting program, Jonathan has appeared in The Distance From Here, Henry V and Monsieur D’Eon is a Woman.

He was also seen in the University of Winnipeg’s 2009 Winnipeg Fringe Festival production of A Doll’s House, and in Commedia with Skyline Theatre during the Winnipeg Fringe Festival 2010.

Jonathan re-visited the University of Winnipeg in 2011 as assistant director of the third-year theatre honours show Machinal.

On the film scene, 2010 marked appearances in his first feature, How To Save A Life, as well as in the pilot episode for sitcom It’s All About The Angle with Karoma Productions.

In 2013 Jonathan appeared in the independent feature Contract Player before stepping into the director’s chair himself, shooting his first feature film When the World was Flat which he also wrote and co-starred. The film has gone on to receive accolades including best of fest and best actor at the Helios Film Festival.

Most recently Jonathan can be seen in BentNeck Films web series The Book Club and Millworth on Shaw TV.

Blackout marks the second film by Jonathan Lawrence.