Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Films from NSI grads screen this week at Cinéfest Sudbury in northern Ontario:

• Astronaut from producer Harry Cherniak (NSI Features First)

• Brotherhood from producer Anand Ramayya (NSI Drama Prize, NSI Totally Television, Global Marketing)

• From the Vine from producer Kyle Bornais (NSI Features First)

• James vs. His Future Self from writer/director/producer Jeremy LaLonde and producer Jordan Walker (both NSI Totally Television)

• The Parts You Lose from producer Brendon Sawatzky (NSI Features First)

• Riot Girls from writer Katherine Collins (NSI Features First)

• Unidentified Woman from exec producer Daniel Bekerman (NSI Features First)

Cinéfest Sudbury runs until September 22.

The post Films from NSI grads at Cinéfest Sudbury 2019 appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

Four friends swear a solemn oath.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Joëlle Arseneau

Filmmaker’s statement

The short film Gloria was an opportunity to immerse myself again in my passion for filmmaking.

I wanted the first few minutes of the movie to feel like a throwback to teen horror movies from the late ’80s and early ’90s. I wanted to explore the complexity of relationships between girls, especially during this period of adolescence.

At this time in life, we often want to please others at any price, and social pressure is strong – an amalgam of secrets, lies and betrayal. In high school, alliances and allegiances change all the time. Finally, I really like to be surprised by the endings of movies; I hope that viewers will be with Gloria!

We shot the film in one day; it was a wonderful experience for me. I had a lot of fun directing these actresses and actors of great talent. They gave life to the characters that I had imagined with great finesse. The whole team around me was also exceptional!

About Joëlle Arseneau

Hailing from Quebec’s Îles-de-la-Madeleine region, Joëlle Arseneau moved to Montreal to study film at L’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) before earning a second degree in management at HEC Montreal.

Since as far back as she can remember, Joëlle dreamed of making movies. That dream stayed with her, leading her to make her cinematic debut and get actively involved in her field.

As versatile as she is creative, Joëlle has several film credits under her belt as a director, producer and editor. She sees every project as a fresh opportunity, fearlessly embracing every challenge.

Joëlle founded Le Pied Marin Production in 2009.

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

A young woman refuses to rely on a system that repeatedly fails sexual assault victims and takes justice into her own hands.

Creative team

Writer/director: Katrina Saville
Producer: Gurjeet Kaur Bassi

Filmmaker’s statement

I Beat Up My Rapist is a true story, based on an memoir written by Leif LaVen (formerly Emily Eveland) for xojane.com, that went viral in 2016. Along with hundreds of thousands of other people I’m sure, the essay punched me in the gut and really resonated with me – Leif’s writing was visceral, the details were telling, and her choices were controversial.

Truth be told, I never wanted to be the ‘female’ filmmaker who made a film surrounding the taboo subject matter cemented in a trope that has been overused in TV and film to a nauseating point. Sensationalized. Sexualized. Gratuitous and so mind-numbing that I’d be happy to never see a rape scene again. In fact, I DIDN’T want to see another one … ever. And then … I self-funded a film about a rape.

Leif’s writing gutted me in a way that I just couldn’t get it out of my head. I could visualize the scenes in my head. And I suppose as a filmmaker, the only way to purge those ideas, was to make the damn thing. I wanted to tell this story – from my point of view and from Leif’s point of view.

As Jill Soloway so eloquently said at the Toronto International Film Festival a few years back: “We can use [the female gaze] to call out all of those fucking storylines on those procedurals – that are meant to work as public service, meant to educate us about rape, but actually are just more rape.

“Male protagonist privilege protection extends into the courtrooms, into the way the law understands our bodies. Transparent as a TV show invested in trans protagonism and the culture shifted, then laws changed. What if only women were allowed to craft storylines about our bodies, about rape or consent for the next 100 years? Could we change the laws with our gaze? As we write and direct and produce our own truths about the violence on our bodies, it’s back to our bodies again.”

About Katrina Saville

Katrina Saville is a Toronto-based writer/director/producer of narrative television and films. Currently, she’s a producer/writer/director on the hit television series, Private Eyes (Global/ION), starring Jason Priestley.

Previously she was a writer on The Detail (CTV/ION), Saving Hope (CTV/ION) and Rookie Blue (Global/ABC). She’s in development right now on her directorial feature debut Unidentified Woman, having recently directed a short film of the same name, which is set to make its festival premiere later in 2019.

Her previous short films, I Beat Up My Rapist, The Appointment and Helium Junkies have screened and won awards at film festivals across North America and Europe.

Katrina is a graduate of the film and television production program at Humber College.

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