Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Kirsten Carthew seeks cast and crew members for new production Polaris

Posted: 15 Oct 2019 08:26 AM PDT

Writer/director Kirsten Carthew (NSI Features First, NSI Drama Prize) is currently seeking Yukon- and Northwest Territories-based cast and crew members for her upcoming production Polaris.

Kirsten and her team are looking for an all-women cast, with a diversity of ethnicities, ages (from 9 to 90), sizes and abilities. An open casting call will take place in Whitehorse on Saturday, October 26 and Sunday, October 27.

Principal photography is expected to begin in February and March 2020 in Whitehorse.

Polaris is a dystopian fantasy thriller about a young girl who tries to find her way home after escaping capture by brutal warriors intent on killing her mother. It’s set in a future time, in an upended world, during forever-winter, where women endure a harsh lifestyle, reflective of a brutal environment, inherited from the brutal disregard of generations prior.

Read CBC’s recent article about the production.

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New play Whimsy State from AJ Demers now available in paperback

Posted: 15 Oct 2019 08:17 AM PDT

Whimsy State, or The Principality of Outer Baldonia, a new play from AJ Demers (NSI Features First), is now available in paperback.

It’s 1948 when Russ, Elson and Ron discover the Canadian government plans to open their Atlantic commercial fishing rights to the Spanish, posing an overcrowding threat to business and wildlife.

Based on an absolutely true story, this hilarious play about friendship shows that when ordinary people set out to do extraordinary things, the possibilities are endless.

It’s available to buy at Chapters.

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Parkdale

Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:28 AM PDT

A single mother helps a homeless man hideout from the police after he protects her from a vicious assault.

Creative team

Writers: Aris Athanasopoulos, Kevin Walker
Director: Aris Athanasopoulos
Producers: Aris Athanasopoulos, Kevin Walker, Michael Lazarovitch, Tamara Almeida, Ian G. Carleton, John Nicholls, George Petrovic, Patricia Blake

Filmmaker’s statement

In 1987, my parents bought a sandwich shop in west end Toronto where I sliced vegetables and made subs for the first 21 years of my life. Picture me: a shy, quiet, wide-eyed teenager standing behind a red and white countertop staring out through our shop’s giant windows – like a goldfish in a fishbowl – at the vibrant, sometimes violent, but endlessly captivating inhabitants of pre-2000s Parkdale.

David was one of my regulars. He was a visual artist, a painter, who attended art school at York University in the sixties. When he was forced to drop out of his second year because of his schizophrenia diagnosis, his family excommunicated him.

On one quiet afternoon he stood on the other side of my shop’s counter and shared all of this with me. He mentioned his treatment and how he was in and out of halfway houses in Parkdale for decades. But mostly he told me about his artwork, his gallery showings and how he satisfied his need to express himself through form and colour.

He made a lasting impression on teenage me so I co-wrote and directed this short film to pay homage to him. David, wherever you are, I am forever grateful.

Parkdale is my second short film. It’s about the importance of sharing the stories of who we are with one another, and I am thrilled to share it with you.

About Aris Athanasopoulos

Aris Athanasopoulos is a Toronto-based filmmaker.

He’s authored four short films with his company, Goodnight Porter Pictures, since 2015.

Parkdale was an official selection at Edmonton International Film Festival 2018 and a finalist for Black Maria Film Festival 2018. A.O.K was an official selection at the Canadian Film Fest in 2017 and is currently online in the archives section of the National Screen Institute’s Online Short Film Festival.

Aris is a graduate of York University’s acting conservatory.

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Aurora

Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:22 AM PDT

Mesmerizing kaleidoscopic images captured using one kaleidoscope, three film cameras, three film formats (S8, S16 and 35), finished at the lab and then digitized.

Add an original score and sound design (inspired by the music of Philip Glass, Tangerine Dream and Canadian composer Andrew Staniland), this short, abstract film will take you on a visual journey.

Creative team

Director/producer: Geraldine Carr
Cinematographer: aAron munson
Composer and sound designer: Paul Morgan Donald

Filmmaker’s statement

I was inspired to make Aurora because of my passion for kaleidoscopes and the kaleidoscopic image.

This abstract film is an extension of previous works. In film school I created a short piece with a lipstick camera and remapped the images, and my first film out of film school was a dance film called Dance of the Kaleidoscope.

My goal in making Aurora was to use one kaleidoscope and three different film formats: Super 8, S16 and 35. It was an endeavour to explore the visual differences, and also to create a piece that took the viewer on a journey, unique and specific to themselves.

I worked with cinematographer aAron munson and we placed each camera on one end of the kaleidoscope, and then placed a light at the other end. Once rolling, we turned the kaleidoscope at different speeds and for different lengths of time. With the S16 we used various lenses.

Once I edited the piece together, I worked with Paul Morgan Donald who composed the score and sound design. My influences for sound were Tangerine Dream, Philip Glass and Canadian composer Andrew Staniland.

It is my goal to expand working with kaleidoscopes and the moving image into a video installation in the near future.

About Geraldine Carr

Award-winning filmmaker Geraldine Carr (Aurora, Sweet Sixteen, Voila!, Maud Mary & the Titanic, Dance of the Kaleidoscope, Love-god Lying) has a passion for story, cinema and the creative process.

She is currently in post-production on a documentary called The Wise Fool featuring mask and clown teacher/director Jan Henderson who returned to the stage at 71 to perform physical comedy. The Wise Fool highlights Henderson’s perspective on clown as an art form, her philosophy on clown and also why clown is so important in today’s society.

Standout screenings for Geraldine include the curation of her film Maud Mary & the Titanic in Turkey at the 2015 Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival, as well as the invitation to screen Maud Mary & the Titanic at the SOHO International Film Festival in NYC in 2012 as part of the Titanic’s centennial.

Geraldine is an alumna of Women in the Director’s Chair (2010 & 2016) and is a graduate of the film production program at Confederation College.

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