Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

On The Job by Mike Onley + 2 more films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival

Posted: 20 Feb 2018 01:52 PM PST

Three new films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival from directors Mike Onley, Ashley Hirt and Rami Katz.

On The Job

On The Job | Documentary, 10:48, English, ON, 2017 | Director: Mike Onley

From hijinks and camaraderie to danger and death, On The Job explores the more human elements of firefighting from the perspective of four firefighters.

Q&A

Q&A | Comedy, 5:00, English, MB, 2014 | Director: Ashley Hirt

A frazzled indie director struggles to answer strangely honest questions from the audience when her film is screened at an arthouse theatre.

Fish Soup

Fish Soup | Documentary, 9:45, English, BC, 2015 | Director: Rami Katz

Filmmaker Rami Katz takes an intimate look at his family and cultural traditions through the making of fish soup.

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Call for films / submit by March 12

We’re accepting films through FilmFreeway until Monday, March 12, 2018.

If your film is programmed, you have a chance of winning over $3K in cash awards. We accept films released after January 1, 2013.

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

See the most recent winners.

Your film must be less than 30 mins long. Drama, comedy, animation, documentary, sci-fi, horror, music video and experimental are all eligible and must be made by a Canadian writer, director or producer.

Submit your film

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

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New novel Running Through Sprinklers from Michelle Kim available April 17

Posted: 20 Feb 2018 09:19 AM PST

A new novel, Running Through Sprinklers by Michelle Kim (NSI Drama Prize), will be published in April by Simon & Schuster via its Atheneum Books for Young Readers imprint.

The story, set in Surrey, BC, is about the intense friendships young girls have with one another at around 12 years old. In the book two lifelong best friends grow up and begin to grow apart.

It’s available to buy starting April 17 in Canada and the US.

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Q&A

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 11:46 AM PST

A frazzled indie director struggles to answer strangely honest questions from the audience when her film is screened at an arthouse theatre.

Creative team

Writer: Danishka Esterhazy
Director: Ashley Hirt
Producers: Jessica Lo, Danishka Esterhazy, Rebecca Gibson, Ashley Hirt

Filmmaker’s statement

Q&A was inspired by events writer/producer Danishka Esterhazy went through while travelling the film festival circuit to promote her feature film Black Field. She encountered some wacky Q&A experiences and began to see the humour in the moments where communication failed spectacularly. Those experiences formed the screenplay for Q&A.

When Danishka approached me with the idea to direct, I was thrilled and excited to bring the script to life. So we gathered some talented volunteers and shot the whole film in one day at Winnipeg’s Cinematheque.

At the heart of it, Q&A is a short comedy about the disconnect between polite public discourse and the true motivations that drive us. It is a short film that celebrates the indie spirit of filmmaking.

About Ashley Hirt

Ashley Hirt is a champion of woman in film, and a Metis filmmaker. She’s an alumna of the National Screen Institute’s New Voices program (Winnipeg) and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (London, England).

In 2012, Ashley teamed up with award-winning filmmaker Danishka Esterhazy and award-winning writer/actor Rebecca Gibson to form the female-driven production company Red Czarina.

Ashley’s producer credits include H&G (2013), a neo-realist twist on The Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, Child First (2013), a series of short films on the topic of First Nations families of children with disabilities and Black Field (2009), a gothic historical drama by Danishka Esterhazy. She was associate producer of The Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards in 2011, a live national awards show hosted by Lorne Cardinal.

Ashley directed a comedic short film Q&A (2014) which premiered at the Whistler International Film Festival, won best of fest at the Muskoka International Film Festival and the Golden Remi for best comedic short at Worldfest in Houston, Texas.

Currently she is writing her first feature film screenplay Love Lights with the support of the Rogers Development Fund and is serving as a producer/production manager with Animiki See Digital Production.

The post Q&A appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

On The Job

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 11:29 AM PST

From hijinks and camaraderie to danger and death, On The Job explores the more human elements of firefighting from the perspective of four firefighters.

Creative team

Writer/director: Mike Onley
Producer: Andrew Newton

Filmmaker’s statement

Making this film was very important to me not only because I think the subject matter itself deserves some recognition, but also because the people we interviewed are all personal friends and family.

My father and grandfather, Wayne and Fred Onley, make up half of the cast. I grew up around firefighters, hearing the stories and smelling the smoke on my dad when he would come home from a shift.

I was always aware of how passionate my family was about firefighting and, as I got older, two of my good friends, Ryan Kennedy and Kevin Katchanoski, decided to chose firefighting as a career.

I am often asked why I didn’t chose to go down the same path as my father, and his father before him. The honest answer is that I don’t share their passion for firefighting, although I am humbled and intrigued by it. I do, however, feel passionately about storytelling – and this film serves to connect the two worlds of firefighting and filmmaking that exist within my family.

About Mike Onley

Mike Onley is a writer/director also trained in camera and lighting. He often employs his understanding of cinematography to create a unique and cinematic aesthetic.

His background in comedy writing is evident in the subtle charm and levity present even in his more sensitive and dramatic projects.

The post On The Job appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

Fish Soup

Posted: 15 Feb 2018 11:20 AM PST

Filmmaker Rami Katz takes an intimate look at his family and cultural traditions through the making of fish soup.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Rami Katz

Filmmaker’s statement

The film is an exploration of my family and our cultural traditions through the making of a fish soup.

Fish Soup was developed after I told my partner, Sarah Sheridan, a humourous story about my father. After hearing the anecdote, Sarah suggested that I make a film about it. I liked the idea of working on a personal project, as I had never before even considered making a documentary about my own life.

I think everybody has a family recipe and everyone has a family story, so this film kind of taps into that and, hopefully, gets people thinking about their own stories they want to share. This was also a way for me to connect to my own grandfather, whom I was named after but never got a chance to meet because he died before I was born.

About Rami Katz

Rami Katz is a filmmaker based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

He recently graduated with an MFA in film production at the University of British Columbia and received the H. Norman Lidster Prize in documentary filmmaking.

In 2015, he was selected to participate in the RIDM Talent Lab. His short films have screened all over North America, and he is nearing completion on a new film about Jack O’Dell, a veteran civil rights activist.

For the past three years, Rami has served on the board for the Documentary Organization of Canada (BC Chapter).

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