Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Projects from NSI grads are among the most recent recipients of Bell Fund support through its 2018 TV Pilot Program.

• Corner Gas Animated (pictured) from Virginia Thompson (NSI Features First) and production company Vérité Films

Corner Gas Animated brings back Dog River residents in a decidedly animated form, with new, wilder and weirder adventures 40 miles from nowhere.

• Letterkenny from Mark Montefiore (NSI Totally Television) and production company New Metric Media

The residents of Letterkenny belong to one of three groups: the Hicks, the Skids and the Hockey Players, who are constantly feuding with each other over seemingly trivial matters that often end with someone getting their ass kicked.

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Two NSI Features First-developed films will enjoy a showcase at this year’s Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival, dedicated to celebrating the best in contemporary genre filmmaking.

SuperGrid (pictured), from producer Hugh Patterson and writer Todd McCauley, will open the festival on November 22.

To wrap up the fest on November 27, writer/director Danishka Esterhazy’s Level 16 will screen in its Toronto premiere.

SuperGrid opens in an apocalyptic near-future, where mining conglomerates have turned Canada into a wasteland. A young smuggler is forced to convince his older brother to get back on the “grid” and help him deliver mysterious cargo. En route, they must contend with road pirates, rebel gangs, and each other, in this ode to the post-apocalyptic sci-fi/action movies of the ’80s.

Level 16 is a dystopian science-fiction thriller set in a strict boarding home for girls. Trapped in a sterile facility, 16-year-old Vivien (Katie Douglas) is taught the finer points of ‘feminine virtues’ by a Stepford-like headmistress (Sara Canning) and left to question what fate awaits her when she ages out of the institution.

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NSI Features First provides development training for writer/producer teams looking to produce their first or second feature film with strong commercial appeal. Over 20 feature films developed through the program have been produced since 1997.

NSI Features First is funded by Presenting Sponsor Telefilm Canada; Supporting Sponsors Super Channel, Corus Entertainment and Breakthrough Entertainment; Provincial Sponsor Creative BC through the Daryl Duke and William Vince Scholarship Fund; and Industry Supporters William F. White and Deluxe. NSI Core Funders are Manitoba Sport, Culture & Heritage and the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

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Submissions are now open for the Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative which offers a professional springboard for 100 Francophone, Indigenous and women creators from across Canada.

Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative is a training and development program for emerging and mid-career creatives and producers of commercial television and/or digital media content. The program aims to provide industry access and prepare participants to sell their projects in the international marketplace at the Banff World Media Festival.

Selected participants receive:

• A full access pass to Banff World Media Festival 2019
• Inclusion in a customized professional development program
• Exclusive networking opportunities with senior media industry executives

Read more about the program. Deadline is November 30, 2018.

The post Apply for the Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

Two new films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival from directors Penny Eizenga and Jenina MacGillivray.

Martin’s Hagge

Martin’s Hagge | Comedy, 19:23, English, ON, 2016 | Director: Penny Eizenga

Martin, a middle-aged despondent writer, is burdened with Hagge, his wily personification of anxiety and depression but, after freewheeling Norah encroaches on his workspace, he learns apathy is a choice.

Skip

Skip | Drama, 12:07, English, NL, 2016 | Director: Jenina MacGillivray

In a coastal town in Newfoundland a man named Skip cares for his widowed grandfather, admires the local store clerk from afar and dreams of making something of his life through an unlikely endeavor: rock skipping.

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Call for films / submit by December 7

We’re accepting films through FilmFreeway until Friday, December 7, 2018. Films programmed from this submission period will appear online between January 7 and March 25, 2019.

If your film is programmed, you have a chance of winning the A&E Short Filmmakers Award for best film. 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 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 Corus Entertainment, Blue Ant Media and Breakthrough Entertainment; Award Sponsor A&E Television Networks; and Industry Partner the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

The post Martin’s Hagge by Penny Eizenga + 1 more film in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).