Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Vote for your favourite STORYHIVE digital shorts pitches until April 6

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 02:54 PM PDT

Voting for the latest TELUS STORYHIVE digital shorts pitches is underway.

Vote daily to support the projects you want to see awarded $10K in production grants and distribution. Voting is open now and closes at noon (PST) on Friday, April 6

Vote now.

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STORYHIVE is a community-powered funding program that allows members of the community to influence which projects receive funding from TELUS.

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Reel Canada, NSI, Urban Shaman Gallery present free screening of The Road Forward, April 18

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 01:43 PM PDT

Reel Canada, the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) and Urban Shaman Gallery present a special, free National Canadian Film Day screening of The Road Forward from writer and director Marie Clements (Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program, NSI Storytellers).

The event takes place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18 at Landmark Cinemas Towne 8, 301 Notre Dame Avenue in Winnipeg.

The film tells the tale of six generations of Indigenous activism, weaving in musical sequences that seamlessly connect past and present with blues, rock and traditional beats. Marie and documentary subject Doreen Manuel will attend and participate in a Q&A after the screening.

The Road Forward is preceded by NSI IndigiDocs short film Mia’ from filmmakers Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett.

The screening is free but advance registration is encouraged.

Thank you to the NFB for providing us with the film.

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Apply now for TELUS STORYHIVE Banff Fellowship to attend Banff World Media Festival 2018

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 12:28 PM PDT

Applications are now being accepted from content creators in British Columbia and Alberta for the TELUS STORYHIVE Banff Fellowship Program.

The program promotes professional development in digital production by enabling emerging creative talent – including producers, writers and directors – to attend the Banff World Media Festival.

Applications are being accepted until April 29, 2018.

The program includes:

Note: The fellowships are not intended for established professionals.

Find out more and apply.

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Training boot camp begins for NSI Totally Television phase two teams

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 08:03 AM PDT

From left: Alexandra Caulfield, Gemma Holdway, Rob Ramsay and Jon Mann.

This year’s NSI Totally Television phase two teams are on the way to completing their second boot camp in Toronto this week.

Alexandra Caulfield and Gemma Holdway of DeGeneration and Rob Ramsay and Jon Mann of Wolfville will continue to polish their TV project ideas with the assistance of industry mentors, including:

The teams will also attend the Banff World Media Festival this June as part of their training.

NSI Totally Television is managed by Joy Loewen alongside program advisor Julie Di Cresce.

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NSI Totally Television provides hands-on series development training for creative producer/writer teams serious about getting their television series concept made.

The program has produced 13 series that have gone into development: six have gone to air, one was piloted and another was produced as a feature film that had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

NSI Totally Television is made possible by Presenting Sponsor Bell Media; Program Partner Telefilm Canada; Supporting Sponsors Entertainment One, Super Channel, Corus Entertainment and Breakthrough Entertainment; and Territorial Sponsor Yukon Media Development. NSI Core Funders are Manitoba Sport, Culture & Heritage and the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

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Time Out

Posted: 27 Mar 2018 01:57 PM PDT

While on a trip to Milan, a couple pretends to meet as their younger selves to determine their future together.

Creative team

Writer: Adam Langton
Director: Navin Ramaswaran
Actors/producers: Jen Pogue, Adam Langton
Cinematographer: Bruce William Harper
Composer: Antonio Naranjo

Filmmaker’s statement

A little movie that I’m very proud of, Chasing Valentine had its European premiere in Milan back in 2016. A couple weeks prior to that trip, I realized that I’d be travelling to beautiful Italy with some of my favourite people from that movie, whom happened to be two extremely talented actors and a cinematographer.

An idea was born – could we sneak off during our downtime and use the beautiful European landscape as our free set and shoot a short film? I ran this past Adam Langton and his response was “I’ll start writing it immediately!” And so he did. That’s how Time Out was born!

Adam, Jen, Bruce and I stayed together in a quaint Italian apartment, which made things convenient. The apartment became one of our locations plus our production office.

Between festival screenings, socializing and sightseeing, we somehow put together a little movie that I am extremely proud of.

It’s a story that explores the magic and discoveries when taking a time out from preconceived reality!

About Navin Ramaswaran

Graduating from the University of Windsor in 2003 with a BA Hons. in communication studies and visual arts, Navin Ramaswaran is a director and editor represented by studio m in Toronto.

Besides being the creative lead on various commercials and music videos, he is also an award-winning filmmaker. His newest feature film, Chasing Valentine, has received critical and public acclaim and won multiple awards including best picture at film festivals worldwide. The movie was made under his own banner Splice Films and is currently being released worldwide.

His recent commercial projects include the award-winning Coca Cola Freestyle campaign, Disney Channel Canada, and WestJet’s “12,000 Christmas Mini Miracles” and “Make A Wish” spots. He also edited the viral hit WestJet Christmas Surprise 2014.

Navin recently released Poor Agnes, a horror/thriller to wildly positive critical and public reviews. Winning the coveted Barry Convex Award for Best Canadian Film at the 2017 Fantasia Film Festival, this is what the jury members had to say about the film and the filmmaker:

“Poor Agnes was chosen to represent the 2017 Barry Convex Award not only for its impressive direction, darkly comic storytelling and overall unified vision, but for its challenging attitude. Coming out of a country with a system where voices of subversion against, and challenges to, the mainstream status quo are few and far between – and yet more important than ever – Poor Agnes acts as a daring and powerful middle finger against establishment filmmaking.”

Under Navin’s direction, Lora Burke, who plays the film’s title character, also won the best female actor in a leading role award at the 2017 Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Navin also took home the Best Director award for Poor Agnes at the Snowdance Independent Film Festival.

“Navin is a stylish, talented director/editor with a great career ahead of him. He has an amazing visual eye and a solid understanding of story and character,” comments Sean McConville (Director, Deadline).

“It’s the calculated chaos that excites me when it comes to filmmaking,” says Navin. Through his passion and drive for filmmaking, Navin believes in putting together a strong team to create content that stands above the rest.

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Currency

Posted: 27 Mar 2018 01:29 PM PDT

With 50,000 online followers and $10 to her name, Robyn must choose between the instant gratification of social status and the reality of the world around her.

Creative team

Writers: Emma Higgins, Martin MacPhail
Director: Emma Higgins
Producer: Jeff Pangman

Filmmaker’s statement

Robyn’s story is one that appeals to me because it explores themes close to my life as a woman in my 20s. My generation is one of the first to grow up with the internet and social media, the effects of which are fascinating to me.

With Currency, I hope to explore a small part of these effects as they relate to one young woman.

About Emma Higgins

Born and raised in Vancouver, Emma began developing her craft from a young age while working in different positions throughout the film industry. This background gave her the opportunity to learn filmmaking from the inside out and hone a unique set of skills that would eventually lead her to directing.

Accomplished now in her own right, she is one of Canada’s brightest young talents with a unique visual style and distinct creative voice. Her visionary approach to music videos has made her one the most sought after directors in her field, directing videos for some of Canada’s top artists and gaining millions of views on her videos.

Her passion for storytelling is obvious in all of her work and she has received significant critical praise including: official selections at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival, Shärt International Comedy Film Festival, Sacramento Horror Festival, Birmingham Shout Festival, Palm Beach Women’s Film Fest and Austin Gay and Lesbian Short Film Festival. Her work won best music video at the LA Reel Film Festival and best short film at the Oregon Short Film Festival.

She has received nominations for best director and best music video at both the British Columbia Country Music Association awards and the Country Music Association of Ontario awards, and her 2016 video for Dan Talevski’s song Knock Me Off My Feet earned him a nomination for best new artist at the 2016 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards.

Her work has been featured on international broadcast television including features on Entertainment Tonight, Billboard Music Awards, CTV, MuchMusic, CMT, MTV and many more.

In 2015 Emma was awarded a BravoFACT grant for her original short film Currency (2016) and selected for the Bell Media Sound and Vision film challenge with her short film God Hates a Coward (2016).

In 2018 she was nominated for a Juno award for video of the year for her video The Drugs by Mother Mother.

With several feature length scripts currently in development, Emma has set her sights on directing her highly anticipated debut feature.

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