Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Three friends on a road trip from Toronto to Burning Man must band together and overcome their beat-up old car.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Brendan Brady

Filmmaker’s statement

Black Rock or Bust is based on my experience of road tripping from Toronto, Canada to Burning Man in the Nevada desert, some four thousand kilometres away.

While Burning Man was, as expected, amazing, the trials and tribulations of being on the road in a broken down car – testing our friendship every day – made reaching the gates of Black Rock City a profound experience.

I think everyone who has chosen adventures with their friends can relate to high stress situations. It’s the way friendship is handled in these make or break moments that I am interested in exploring.

Black Rock or Bust showcases one of the pivotal moments on the journey to Burning Man which I hope to explore further in the feature version.

About Brendan Brady

A 2014 resident of the Canadian Film Centre’s Producers Lab, Brendan Brady is a multifaceted filmmaker working as a producer, director, writer and actor.

He has most recently served as line producer on the feature film Don’t Talk To Irene and is currently developing two feature films including the feature version of Black Rock or Bust.

The post Black Rock or Bust appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

A son tries to get his father back from the retirement home after he realizes how important his father is to him and his family.

Creative team

Writer: Tian Wang
Director: Evan Yifan Ning
Producer: Kevin Yang

Filmmaker’s statement

I first came up with the idea when I was chatting with a screenwriter who has been living in Toronto for more than 10 years. He knew many stories about immigrants in North America, especially how different generations shared different cultures.

He told a story about a 70-year-old Chinese man who immigrated to Canada and moved into his son’s house. His son married a western woman. One day, the old man helped wash glasses but didn’t wipe them clean. He left fingerprints and water drops. This made his daughter-in-law upset. After that, the old man was always worried about it. So every time he finished washing dishes, he had to stand in the sunlight and carefully wipe them clean. This made his son guilty.

According to Chinese traditional culture, children should take care of their parents when they get older. They always take parents into their house, and look after them. This is called ‘yanglao.’ This inspired me to write a story about the conflicts between western and Chinese cultures.

Toronto is a city for old people, [and] there are a large amount of Chinese people living here. Thus ‘yanglao’ has become a hot topic.

Many Chinese people immigrate to this city and settle here. They buy large houses, get married and have their own children. And then they take their parents into their home, with the hope of taking care of their lives. If you ask a Chinese person how to define the word ‘home,’ they’ll say home is a house where [both] old people and children live.

In contrast, people in the west live in a totally different way. When children get older, they move out. When parents get older, they move into a retirement home. But for Chinese people, this is considered hugely disrespectful towards parents.

And this is even more prominent in a transnational marriage. How should they treat parents? Should they send parents to a retirement home or take care of them themselves? This is how the film starts.

Due to language barriers and cultural differences, the Chinese father and his daughter-in-law have a lot of conflicts when living in the same house. The daughter is so stressed that she suggests sending the father to a retirement home.

In the film, the son plays a very important role. He is the bridge connecting the western and Chinese cultures. His ignorance deepens the misunderstanding between his father and his wife.

The film is not to answer the question of whether people should send their parents to retirement homes or not, but aims to appeal to the audience and have them reflect and consider whether they pay enough attention to the older generation.

It’s natural that immigrated parents will be uncomfortable living in a strange place. They are so vulnerable, they not only need material help but also emotional care.

About Evan Yifan Ning

Evan Yifan Ning is a filmmaker and CSC associate member. He started his career as a filmmaker in 2008 after he moved to Toronto.

As a photographer and cinematographer, Evan’s work focuses on conflicted people and human rights. His first short film, The Choice, follows a policeman who has been ordered to suppress religious people as he struggles between obeying the order and morality.

He is currently working on another film inspired by the true events of organ harvesting in China.

The post Be With You appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

A young boy left home alone gets an unwanted visitor.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Daelan Wood

Filmmaker’s statement

Hello Quinn was an exercise in working within specific constraints. I wanted to make a compelling and suspenseful film that ran a maximum of four minutes and didn’t contain any dialogue.

I focused on using camera movement, performance, music and sound design to create tension and suspense. The film was shot in one evening in my apartment and stars my son Quinn in his first foray into acting.

About Daelan Wood

Daelan Wood is a filmmaker from Edmonton, Alberta.

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

Two activists explore their evolving relationship to spirituality and examine it as a force for personal transformation and social change.

Creative team

Writer/director: Tendisai Cromwell
Producers: Tendisai Cromwell, Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs

Filmmaker’s statement

The Spirit of Social Change advances a conversation that is increasingly relevant in our times, especially since the election of Donald Trump, a man whose victorious campaign was characterized by fear and hate.

This film calls us to consider an alternative vision of the world in which widespread social transformation can be brought about through spirituality.

This documentary is a modest contribution to a larger conversation and we ask our audience to not only watch this film but also share it and begin conversations of your own.

About Tendisai Cromwell

Tendisai Cromwell is an independent filmmaker and writer with a background in journalism.

She founded New Narrative Films in 2014 where she currently serves as creative director.

Tendisai participated in the Doc Accelerator program offered by Hot Docs and was awarded an Inspirit Foundation scholarship to attend the Story Money Impact conference at the Hollyhock Centre in Cortes Island, BC.

She most recently worked in the production department at the Canadian Film Centre. Her foray into journalism began in 2009 on the streets of Palestine as a reporter for a Ramallah-based publication.

Since then, Tendisai has written for various publications and produced radio segments at CBC’s The Current while also completing the master of journalism program at Ryerson University.

She also writes creatively and, on occasion, performs her works – one of which is included in an anthology.

The post The Spirit of Social Change appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).