Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Production is now underway on web series How to Buy a Baby from producer Lauren Corber (NSI Totally Television).

Molly McGlynn (NSI Drama Prize) has joined the project as director. The 10-part comedy series is based on writer Wendy Litner’s experience with infertility.

How To Buy A Baby follows couple Jane and Charlie Levy as they struggle through infertility treatments.

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Voting for the latest round of TELUS STORYHIVE: music video edition is underway.

Vote for your favourite music video concept and help the top 30 teams each receive $10K in production grants. Voting is open now and closes at noon (PST) on Monday, May 1.

Learn more and cast your vote.

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STORYHIVE is a community-powered funding program that allows members of the community to influence what projects will receive funding from TELUS.

The post Vote for your favourite STORYHIVE music video idea by May 1 appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

Three new films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival from directors Daniel Boos, Aaron Setton and Adolfo Ruiz.

Bound

Bound | Drama, 11:06, English, NS, 2015 | Director: Daniel Boos

When a group of foreign workers appear at his brother’s sawmill, a struggling shopkeeper must face a troubling decision.

Set in rural Nova Scotia, Bound is a story of empathy, brotherhood and the bonds that compel and constrain us to act on our conscience.

Meter Maid

Meter Maid | Comedy, 6:57, English, ON, 2016 | Director: Aaron Setton

A delusional, self-appointed meter maid and his grumpy neighbour go to war over homemade parking tickets.

Adrift

Adrift | Animation, 6:48, English, AB, 2016 | Director: Adolfo Ruiz

After quitting his job during an economic downturn, a young man gains a new perspective on life.

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The NSI Online Short Film Festival is made possible through the support of Festival Partner Telefilm Canada; Supporting Sponsors Entertainment One, Super Channel, Corus Entertainment, Blue Ant Media, The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation and Breakthrough Entertainment; Award Sponsors A&E Television Networks, The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation; Corus Entertainment and Blue Ant Media; and Industry Partner the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

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A delusional, self-appointed meter maid and his grumpy neighbour go to war over homemade parking tickets.

Creative team

Writers: Isi Commisso, Aaron Setton, Mike Onley, Jordan Scherer
Director/producer: Aaron Setton

Filmmaker’s statement

If you can believe it, a real-life, honest to goodness human being inspired the film Meter Maid.

One of the film’s writers, Isi Commisso, came to me with a pile of unpaid parking fines that looked like they were made in Microsoft Paint. The moment I saw those homemade parking tickets, I knew we had a movie.

Meter Maid was shot in 2016 over the course of one hazy, Hamilton summer weekend. We shot it like a documentary because we figured if, given the chance, our character Peter would probably hire a documentary crew to film his exploits and share his ‘heroism’ with the world.

Jordan Scherer (Peter) and Mike Onley’s (Ed) chemistry is pure magic. I wish we could shoot the film over and over again because they made me laugh so hard on set.

You can’t see it, but Jordan was actually pants-less for the entire creepy basement scene. What’s funny is I don’t remember even giving that direction. I think he felt it just made sense for the situation.

That being said, I guess my advice to other filmmakers is if you need your actors to get weird, remove pants from the equation.

About Aaron Setton

Aaron Setton studied film and television at Sheridan College’s Advanced Television and Film program. He now lives in Hamilton, Ontario where he makes films for fun and eats tacos for a living.

Aaron is famous for accidentally stumbling into the background of The Amazing Race: Canada where he pointed directions to contestants after explicitly being told not to.

Aaron is currently prepping for his first feature film.

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

Congratulations to Nadine Arpin (NSI IndigiDocs) on her selection to the Corus Diverse Voices Scholarship.

Selected filmmakers take part in an intensive festival-based curriculum comprised of a private development lab alongside attendance at Hot Docs conference and market events. The program will focus on skills training and career advancement with a goal of completing development on a short documentary.

The program runs April 29 and 30.

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