Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Above: Marie Clements on location in NWT. Photo by Howard Davis

Red Snow, a new dramatic feature film from writer/director/producer Marie Clements (Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program, NSI Storytellers), has begun production in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Dylan (Asivak Koostachin), a Giwch’in soldier from the Canadian Arctic, is caught in an ambush in Kandahar, Afghanistan. His capture and interrogation by a Taliban Commander (Kane Mahon) releases a cache of memories connected to the love and death of his Inuit cousin, Asana (Miika Whiskeyjack) and binds him closer to a Pashtun family as they escape across treacherous landscapes and through a blizzard that becomes their key to survival.

The production, funded in part by Women in the Directors Chair through the WIDC Feature Film Award, will move to the interior of BC to complete principal photography by May 31.

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From left: Lisa Harper, Alexis Nelson, Chris Schulz, Kane Slavuta, Shini Barratt, Tia Dumas and Jared Bone

Jared Bone (CBC New Indigenous Voices) is featured (subscription) in the Winnipeg Free Press as part of their business section coverage of First Peoples Development Inc.’s (FPDI) youth mentorship workshops in Manitoba’s First Nations communities.

Recently Jared travelled to communities including Nelson House and Sagkeeng First Nation to help administer robotics workshops and serve as a youth mentor.

In partnership with Winnipeg robotics company Cogmation, they bring Lego Mindstorm robotics kits to participants and help them program the robots.

Read the full article on Winnipeg Free Press (subscription).

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This year’s Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival features projects from eight NSI grads:

• According to John Acorn from director/producer Jason Arsenault (NSI Features First)

• Bachman from writer/director John Barnard and producers Chris Charney and Kyle Bornais (all NSI Features First)

• Prince’s Tale from exec producer Laura Perlmutter (NSI Drama Prize)

• Two Worlds Colliding (pictured) from writer/director Tasha Hubbard (NSI IndigiDocs, Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program)

• What Walaa Wants from director Christy Garland (NSI Drama Prize)

• And Cristian and Yimarly: Rebel Love from producer Jaime Escallon-Buraglia (NSI Totally Television) has been selected for the Hot Docs Pitch Forum.

Hot Docs runs from April 26 to May 6, 2018 in Toronto.

The post NSI grads with films at 2018 Hot Docs fest appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

Three new films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival from directors Tanya Lemke, Jake Kent and Sofía Auza.

Static

Static | Sci-fi/Horror, 16:00, English, ON, 2016 | Director: Tanya Lemke

A heartbroken man gets a second chance at redemption when he’s able to deliver his wife’s dying wish to another longtime companion, his faithful TV.

Theckathil & the Gnomes

Theckathil & the Gnomes | Animation, 3:57, English, QC, 2014 | Director: Jake Kent

A tale about a man whose unsuccessful and mundane career choices are remedied by his cat.

Mangoes

Mangoes | Drama, 3:48, English, BC, 2017 | Director: Sofía Auza

Mangoes is a queer, cinematic collaboration between Canadian spoken word artist Andrew Warner and Mexican writer/director Sofia Auza.

It explores the relationship between two friends with several mental illnesses through visual poetry and spoken word.

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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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