Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

In celebration of Canada 150, Canada has been invited as this year’s Country of Honour at the 20th Guanajuato International Film Festival in Mexico.

The festival’s Spotlight on Canada will showcase some of our country’s most renowned filmmakers, brightest talents and emerging stars, including film screenings from NSI grads.

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World from Catherine Bainbridge and Christina Fon (both NSI Global Marketing) screens July 27 and Werewolf from Ashley McKenzie and Nelson MacDonald (both NSI Drama Prize) screens July 29.

The fest runs from July 21 to 30, 2017, in the cities of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato, Mexico.

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Congratulations to Mayumi Yoshida and the team behind STORYHIVE digital shorts winner Akashi-あかし- on making the semifinals of the NBCUniversal Short Film Festival.

The semifinalists are showcased at public screenings in New York on August 15 and 16.

Finalists will be chosen by a panel of entertainment industry professionals and NBCUniversal executives. Winners will be selected for best writer, best director and best actor, among others.

The finale screening and awards ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on October 18 at the Directors Guild of America.

Akashi is about a woman who returns to Japan after her grandmother passes only to find her modern ways clash with the traditional values of her homeland.

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STORYHIVE is a community-powered funding program that allows members of the community to vote for their favourite projects.

The program allows content creators in British Columbia and Alberta to submit their story ideas to an online public platform.

NSI delivers training for the selected projects and their creators once they’re chosen through the STORYHIVE process.

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Two films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival from directors Jillian Acreman and Shane Brar.

Marigolds

Marigolds | Comedy, 7:44, English, NB, 2015 | Director: Jillian Acreman

A peculiar take on legacy in the absence of coital reproduction.

Atone

Atone | Drama, 10:53, English, BC, 2017 | Director: Shane Brar

Mike, a farmhand, lives life day to day but when things begin to deteriorate he realizes his own future is in jeopardy. He takes on the situation himself causing a change that shatters the system around him.

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Call for films / submit by September 8

Films are now being accepted through FilmFreeway until Friday, September 8, 2017.

If your film is programmed, you have a chance of winning over $3K in cash awards. We accept films released after January 1, 2012.

All NSI Online Short Film Festival winners receive a complimentary Friend membership for the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and non-acting award winners are qualified to be nominated for a Canadian Screen Award (if award criteria are met).

See the most recent winners.

Your film must be less than 30 mins long. Drama, comedy, animation, documentary, sci-fi, horror, music video and experimental are all eligible and must be made by a Canadian writer, director or producer.

Submit your film

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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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Voting is now open for the latest edition of TELUS STORYHIVE music videos. Your votes help decide the top two music videos out of 30 finalists.

The filmmakers behind the top-voted clips receive passes to SXSW along with airfaire and hotel stipend, plus guidance on how to maximize their festival experience.

Voting is open now through July 28 at 12 p.m. PST.

Cast your vote.

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Congrats to the NSI grads with films screening at the sixth annual Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival in Ottawa, August 9 to 13.

• Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World from Catherine Bainbridge and Christina Fon (both NSI Global Marketing)

• Bayline by JJ Neepin (NSI IndigiDocs) and Justina Neepin (CBC New Indigenous Voices, NSI IndigiDocs) – screens in the Ma Connexion shorts program

• Native Nibbles from Trudy Stewart (NSI IndigiDocs) – screens in the Hard Out 2Spirit shorts program

• Rise from Michelle Latimer (NSI Drama Prize)

• NSI IndigiDocs short Jane & the Wolf from Rachel Garrick and Nadine Arpin, plus How to Steal a Canoe and Four Faces of the Moon from Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett (both NSI IndigiDocs) – screen in the Lost Love shorts program

• NSI IndigiDocs short From Up North (pictured) from Trudy Stewart and Janine Windolph – screens in the Niniwag Men’s Stories shorts program

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TELUS STORYHIVE web series How To Learn Anything from director Lindsay Robinson screens next month in Edmonton.

All six episodes of the series screen at the Garneau Theatre in Edmonton on Wednesday, August 2 at 7 p.m.

In each episode host Stephen Robinson learns two unrelated skills from scratch and combines them to do something ridiculous.

In season one, follow Stephen as he learns how to solve a Rubik’s Cube while skydiving, build a robot to bake a cake and hitchhike across the west coast while knitting a Canadian flag.

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Mike, a farmhand, lives life day to day but when things begin to deteriorate he realizes his own future is in jeopardy. He takes on the situation himself causing a change that shatters the system around him.

Creative team

Writer/director: Shane Brar
Producer: Paul Alamwala

Filmmaker’s statement

The idea behind Atone is to tell the story of Mike and how he deals with external issues.

Mike is a very passive individual who doesn’t seem to let things around him effect him until it comes to his doorstep. Then we see his reaction, which is the polar opposite.

Throughout this film I wanted to show the relationships Mike has with other characters so we used the camera to represent that. The isolationist ideology he maintains is good for him until he believes it’s time to do something right.

I used the shots to carry the story – our eyes see Mike’s world. The camera maintains the thriller aspects of the film throughout, keeping Mike’s character a mystery.

I’d also like to credit my cinematographer, Athan Merrick, for his work on this film.

About Shane Brar

I’m a director and writer from Vancouver. I started out as an actor but realised directing is my real passion.

I’ve worked as a director for about five years on five shorts and two commercials. I wrote three of the short films myself. I never thought I would become a writer but it’s been a great learning experience.

With acting, directing and writing all coming together, it helps me mold my films into what they are today. Everything I’ve done, from meeting new people on sets and maintaining friendships, as well as learning from each individual on set, has created great moments in my film career.

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