Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Two new films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival from directors Karen Knox and Janalee Budge.

Case of the Massey Bodice Ripping

Case of the Massey Bodice Ripping | Comedy, 16:00, English, ON, 2018 | Director: Karen Knox

A short film that illuminates the overwhelmingly poor use of rape as a plot device in film and TV since, well … since forever.

Inspired partly by one of Toronto’s most infamous crimes, the Massey murder of 1915, this historical satire re-imagines the notorious Massey family on their country estate in 1932 the night after matriarch Helen Massey’s daughter Lara has been raped.

The Happiness Tour

The Happiness Tour | Documentary, 10:22, English, BC, 2018 | Director: Janalee Budge

A quirky adventure of a motley crew of witty seniors who, in their 80s and 90s, decide to form a band and go on a happiness tour.

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Call for films / submit by June 14

We’re accepting films through FilmFreeway until Friday, June 14, 2019. Films chosen during this call period will play in the NSI Online Short Film Festival from June 24 to September 13, 2019.

We accept films released after January 1, 2014. If your film is programmed, you have a chance of winning the A&E Short Filmmakers Award for best film.

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).

Read about the most recent winner.

Your film must be less than 30 mins. 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, CBC Gem, Super Channel; Award Sponsor A&E Television Networks; Industry Partner the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

The post Case of the Massey Bodice Ripping by Karen Knox + 1 more film in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

A quirky adventure of a motley crew of witty seniors who, in their 80s and 90s, decide to form a band and go on a happiness tour.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Janalee Budge

Filmmaker’s statement

When my father told me he was joining a band at the age of 87, and the lead guitar player was a 95-year-old lady, I had to go see them play. I happened to have my camera so I asked if they wouldn’t mind if I shot some of their gig. They had my heart within 10 minutes of getting to know them.

Their raw, tell-it-like-it-is personalities were so refreshing and their thirst to share their stories captivated my attention. In today’s digital landscape, many older generations have lost their voice and, in some cases, their purpose as storytellers. Younger generations simply go online for all their knowledge.

In addition to giving the seniors a platform to share their current purpose of spreading happiness through music, I also wanted to find a way to bridge the gap with multi generations. So I paired them up with a group of millennial music engineer students to see how they would co-create together. The results were both amazing and hilarious.

About Janalee Budge

Janalee worked as an art director in commercial advertising for 15 years before she decided to focus her creative talents primarily on filmmaking.

Her directorial debut for the short documentary, In the Blink of an Eye, won the Sir Edmund Hillary Award at the Mountain Film Awards and earned the award of distinction for Canadian shorts. The Happiness Tour is Janalee’s second film.

Janalee has been developing her skills as both a DOP and a director in drama and documentary shorts. She combines her experience in visual composition with her thirst for thought-provoking stories to bring a unique artistic style to her films.

The post The Happiness Tour appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

A short film that illuminates the overwhelmingly poor use of rape as a plot device in film and TV since, well … since forever.

Inspired partly by one of Toronto’s most infamous crimes, the Massey murder of 1915, this historical satire re-imagines the notorious Massey family on their country estate in 1932 the night after matriarch Helen Massey’s daughter Lara has been raped.

Creative team

Writers: Dana Fradkin, Karen Knox
Director: Karen Knox
Producers: Emily Andrews, Jen Pogue, Michael Schram

Filmmaker’s statement

The idea of creating this film was born of a conversation I had with my writing partner Dana Fradkin while discussing society’s treatment of murder vs. rape. Media freely satirizes both murder and violence, but not rape. Even saying the word full volume in a coffee shop is difficult to do.

Why is this? Does our inability to explore the subject matter except from a limited artistic milieu contribute to the perpetuation of rehashed tropes and bad stereotypes propping up rape culture? These are questions we look to address through Case of the Massey Bodice Ripping. By working closely with the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre and speaking with survivors, we’ve created a film that is insightful, sensitive and, above all else, a paradigm shift in our thinking with regards to how we tell stories of sexual assault.

I am a firm believer in the ability of satire to change the world. I fully acknowledge the difficult nature of watching media detailing accounts of rape. It is one of the most horrific acts of human violence and, unlike murder, leaves us with a survivor, a human being who can speak to the experience, the trauma and its effects.

It then seems perhaps counter-intuitive to try to create a film on the subject that includes elements of comedy. The satire in Case of the Massey Bodice Ripping is more a commentary on our often too passive acceptance of rape culture. Truth though satire is piercingly clear in that it allows us to be self-critical without turning us off with a too-violent or vitriolic reprimand.

After years of watching prime-time drama consistently churn out trope-ridden media regarding female sexual violence, I wanted to create a script that highlighted the overuse and misuse of survivor’s stories. Case of the Massey Bodice Ripping is a period satire dealing with the rape of a young women that:

1. Doesn’t romanticize/sexualize rape;
2. Does not credit rape as a ‘backstory’ for female revenge;
3. Doesn’t use rape to further the development of a male character;
4. Does not use rape to turn a female character into a superhero;
5. Is told from the survivor’s perspective;
6. Does not use rape as an excuse for a woman to be ‘broken’; and
7. Is a comedy and highlights the absurdity/ubiquity of sexual assault in period pieces, especially in the particularly grim rape factories of prime-time dramas.

About Karen Knox

Karen is a Toronto-based filmmaker whose production company is best known for the series Barbelle.

As a director, Karen’s film The Case of the Massey Bodice Ripping has been screened at the Canadian Film Festival, as well as the Grand Budapest Festival (named best short film) and the Venice Short Film Festival where it also won best short film.

Karen continues to develop a body of work that subverts traditional narratives through the female gaze. She has worked as a writer and actor for companies including  CBC, Shaftesbury, Ithentic, Universal Music, Ubisoft, Mad Ruk, Amazon and Bell Fibe TV. She is interested in telling stories you haven’t heard before.

Karen likes subversion, bold aesthetics and good jokes.

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