Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

An unusual tooth condition triggers an escalating confrontation with the worst aspects of 28-year-old Mallory’s psyche.

Creative team

Writer/director: Shannon Litt
Producers: Hannah Martin, Marius Masalar

Filmmaker’s statement

They Eat Your Teeth was inspired by Jennifer Kent’s film The Babadook. I wanted to tell a tight, impactful story and utilize two common phobias: bugs and teeth. I wrote the script in less than a day and, after sitting on it for a couple of weeks, approached producers Hannah Martin and Marius Masalar about bringing it to life.

I had an ambitious production schedule in mind: we would need to shoot in a month’s time to fit it into our schedules. Luckily, they were game and a mid-December shoot allowed us to team up with cast and crew who might normally have been already booked on such short notice.

Budget constraints meant that we needed to be wise about our spending. We prioritized the performances (we went with ACTRA, and lead Gwen Cumyn did an excellent job as Mallory), makeup and prosthetics (thanks to the talented Monica Pavez), and cinematography (crafted by Ryan Glover and Sabrina Spilotro).

Each of these elements came together seamlessly to create the little short film that could! We’re proud the film is an official selection of the NSI Online Short Film Festival, Bloody Mary Film Festival, Nightmares Film Festival and Canada Shorts Film Festival.

About Shannon Litt

Shannon Litt is a Toronto-based writer and director.

A graduate of Ryerson’s RTA School of Media, she has directed pieces for CBC Life, HGTV’s hit show Income Property, the Jane Goodall Institute and the David Suzuki Foundation, among others. She is co-founder and videographer at digital marketing agency Sore Thumb.

Her short film They Eat Your Teeth is an official selection at the NSI Online Short Film Festival, Nightmares Film Festival, Bloody Mary Film Festival and Canada Shorts Film Festival. It was a finalist at Etheria Film Night and VideoScream International Film Festival.

Shannon directed two seasons of the Streamy-nominated web series All For One (produced with Corus Digital and distributed by ABC Spark and KindaTV) and episodes of the IPF-funded series The March Family Letters.

She participated in the 2016 Women On Screen Web Series Incubator program and the 2013 CMPA National Mentorship.

The post They Eat Your Teeth appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

An electrician’s routine house call takes an unexpected turn when the sullen homeowners provide a nightmarish look into his potential future.

Creative team

Writer/director: Alex Butt
Producers: Alex Butt, Lewis Spring

Filmmaker’s statement

Bonding imagines a newlywed’s idea of a haunted house, where the typical supernatural terror is replaced with the tormenting presence of regret, resentment, and memories of a brighter past.

At its core, the film is a love story dressed as a horror, which allowed us to have fun playing with composition, pacing and music to reference some of the genre’s familiar signatures.

I was lucky to work with some old and new friends on this project and I’m forever grateful to the cast and crew for being incredible collaborators and rising to the occasion against a tight timeline and limited resources.

About Alex Butt

Alex Butt is a Toronto-based writer, director and producer whose portfolio spans a variety of documentary, narrative and commercial works.

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

Just an ordinary suburban family, except that Dad’s transgender, Mom’s queer and there are five kids in this minivan.

Creative team

Writers/directors/producers: Katherine and Nick North

Filmmakers’ statement

This is our family’s true story of identity, trust and transformation.

Too many transgender kids wonder: will I be loved? Will I get to have a family? Will it all be OK? Here’s the answer, and a love story about family, finding your true self and becoming who you really are.

About Katherine and Nick North

First-time filmmakers Katherine and Nick fell in love, turned their worlds upside down and lived to tell about it.

Their first joint project is this personal documentary about how they fell in love, became a blended family with FIVE kids and navigated Nick’s gender transition from female to male.

This is the first of many projects they hope to do together (in addition to co-parenting, driving the minivan and doing the dishes) as part of their Beautiful Families project. Beautiful Families shares stories about all sorts of underrepresented and nontraditional families – because every family is a beautiful family.

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