Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Congratulations to the six NSI grads with five projects included in Telefilm’s 11 newly funded Indigenous productions:

• Corruption of Divine Providence from Jeremy Torrie (NSI Aboriginal Cultural Trade Initiative, Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program) and Tanya Brunel (NSI Global Marketing)

• Red Snow from Marie Clements (NSI Storytellers, Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program)

• Leaves Fall Around Her from Darlene Naponse (NSI Features First)

• The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw from Shelley Niro (Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program)

• Red Eye from Carolyn McMaster (NSI Features First)

Telefilm awarded $4.7 million in this round of funding.

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Two films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival from directors Tom Hackett and Nick Wilson.

Mr. Richard Francis

Mr. Richard Francis | Comedy, 11:17, English, BC, 2016 | Director: Tom Hackett

When Mr. Richard Francis tries to beat the system, the system beats him.

The Floaters

The Floaters | Comedy, 9:44, English, ON, 2015 | Director: Nick Wilson

Romantic entanglements, broken toilets and expired pregnancy tests threaten to turn what was supposed to be a fun cottage weekend into a confusing nightmare. It all comes to a head when the mushrooms kick in and the truth comes out.

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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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Starting August 21, STORYHIVE will accept pitches from content creators in British Columbia and Alberta for its latest web series edition.

Apply through STORYHIVE for a chance to win one of 30 x $10K production grants to bring a web series pilot to life.

The top winners from each province get an additional $50K grant to produce up to six episodes of their web series plus training and mentorship.

• • •

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

The program allows content creators in British Columbia and Alberta to submit their story ideas to an online public platform. The community then votes for the project that should receive funding and go into production.

NSI delivers training for the selected projects and their creators once they’re chosen through the STORYHIVE process. The public chooses 15 projects from content creators in British Columbia and 15 from Alberta.

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Presented by the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI)

Above from left: Ursula Lawson, Nikita Day, Tyshana Hobson, Gindalee Ouskun, Ryan Wilson, Chris Eastman, Andy Lown, Lisa Meeches, Melanie Hadley, Michael Black, Kaya Wheeler, Jesse Spence, Alexis Leask

The National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) is pleased to announce the graduation of nine students from the CBC New Indigenous Voices course on Thursday, August 10.

Now in its 13th year, CBC New Indigenous Voices is a culturally-sensitive training course that exposes young Indigenous people aged 18-35 to a variety of creative and challenging employment opportunities in the film and television industry. Students train with professionals to develop their industry skills and then undertake a full-time internship to put those skills into practice.

“CBC congratulates the 2017 New Indigenous Voices grads,” said Sally Catto, general manager, programming, CBC. “We look forward to the valuable contributions their voices, perspectives and talent will make to our industry, and wish them every success as they further their creative journeys.”

“The level of commitment and success these grads have shown throughout the course is impressive – as a result of this, many of them already have industry jobs or internships they’re going into immediately following their graduation,” said Ursula Lawson, CBC New Indigenous Voices program manager. “I know they’ll be accomplishing great things in their careers – this is only the beginning.”

Congratulations to:

• Michael Black – Winnipeg
• Chris Eastman – Winnipeg
• Tyshana Hobson – Winnipeg
• Alexis Leask – Winnipeg
• Andrew Lown – Fort Erie, ON
• Gindalee Ouskun – Winnipeg
• Jesse Spence – Winnipeg
• Nikita Weiss Day – Telkwa, BC
• Ryan Wilson – Winnipeg

CBC New Indigenous Voices 2017 began in May with a traditional feast and pipe ceremony to bless the students on their journey. Now, 14 weeks later, after class time and internships, we honour the participants, faculty and sponsors with a graduation ceremony and special screening of short films created and produced by the students as part of their training.

The three short films are:

• Forgotten by Jesse Spence with Alexis Leask and Andrew Lown

• Star Line by Nikita Weiss Day with Ryan Wilson and Chris Eastman

• Bank Statement by Tyshana Hobson with Gindalee Ouskun and Michael Black

CBC New Indigenous Voices is funded by: Title, Presenting and Tuition Sponsor CBC; Program Partners Manitoba Sport, Culture & Heritage, the Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development (CAHRD) and Telefilm Canada; NSI Indigenous Training Programs Partner Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries; Supporting Sponsors Entertainment One, Super Channel, Corus Entertainment, Breakthrough Entertainment and imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival; Provincial Sponsor Manitoba Film & Music; Industry Partner the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC); and Service Sponsor William F. White. NSI Core Funders are Manitoba Sport, Culture and Heritage and the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

About CBC/Radio-Canada

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. We are Canada’s trusted source of news, information and Canadian entertainment. Deeply rooted in communities all across the country, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also provide international news and information from a uniquely Canadian perspective. In 2017, CBC/Radio-Canada will be at the heart of the celebrations and conversations with special 2017-themed multiplatform programming and events across Canada.

About the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI)

Renowned for having given many emerging filmmakers, television writers and producers their first breaks, the National Screen Institute provides training and production support through courses like NSI Totally Television, CBC New Indigenous Voices presented by NSI, NSI Features First, NSI IndigiDocs, NSI Business for Producers, Corus Diverse TV Director, TELUS STORYHIVE Web Series and Digital Shorts, and TELUS Optik™ Local.

NSI also offers exposure through the NSI Online Short Film Festival and provides vast resources and support to those in the film, television and digital media industries at nsi-canada.ca.

All media enquiries

Laura Friesen, Manager, Communications & Alumni Relations
Tel: 204.957.2999 or email: laura.friesen@nsi-canada.ca

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Jim Brodie is offering NSI grads a discount on an upcoming Judith Weston directing workshop in Toronto.

Judith Weston will present a workshop for filmmakers in Toronto on September 5 and 6 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Judith has taught filmmakers and actors around the world for more than 30 years. She’s written two books: Directing Actors and The Film Director’s Intuition – required reading at film studios, on the sets of television series and at film schools.

The workshop is limited to 30 participants and classes fill up quickly. Up to eight local directors who attend will be invited to present a directed scene.

The regular cost of the workshop is $600 US. NSI alumni are offered registration for $600 CA plus HST – you save $150. Lunch and refreshments are provided over the two days.

To register, email jim@jimbrodie.com.

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A new TV script from Jason Filiatrault (Movie Central Script to Screen) got a Jay Baruchel-directed table read last weekend at Just For Laughs fest in Montreal

Jason‏’s script, Tracy and Unicorn, was selected from more than 200 submissions for a table read. The reading included actors like Ellen Wong (Scott Pilgrim, GLOW) and Mark Critch (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), as well as Jay Baruchel.

The show tells the story of a young woman who feels unhappy in her life, so she uses a magic spell to summon a unicorn, who promises to grant her wishes – on the condition she kills whoever the unicorn tells her to.

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TIFF has posted a new interview with filmmaker and shorts programmer Danis Goulet (NSI Drama Prize).

In the interview (originally conducted in 2016), Danis talks about the arduous process of selecting TIFF’s own short cuts program, which boasts over 60 short films from Canada and around the world.

In her words, “As a short filmmaker, it’s rare that you ever make your budget back. The market is limited. So with shorts, it’s really about finding interesting voices. For me, it’s such an exciting place to be. When you hit that pot of gold under the rainbow, it’s really joyful. We all feel it.”

TIFF takes place September 7 to 17, 2017.

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Congratulations to director Shelagh Carter (NSI Drama Prize) whose film Before Anything You Say screens at Film Fest International Berlin on October 3.

In the film, Isobel’s husband Jack assumes she’ll follow when he announces his intent to pursue a job that would require him to live in Bangkok for five years, leaving her life and career behind. However, Isobel is not prepared to follow blindly.

Hurt and feeling misunderstood by one other, they attempt to reconcile their lives and love in Paris. Both struggle with a desire to care for others without being aware of their inability to care for each other, refusing to give up despite themselves and despite the world around them.

The fest runs from October 1 to 6.

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When Mr. Richard Francis tries to beat the system, the system beats him.

Creative team

Writer: Mike Scully
Director: Tom Hackett
Producers: Tom Hackett, Paul McGillion

Filmmaker’s statement

Mr. Richard Francis was an exercise in filming a very unsympathetic character and watching as he gets his comeuppance.

As writer Mike Scully often said “If I steal a purse, I’ll go to jail. When a rich person steals millions of dollars, they get grounded.” We wanted to show the ridiculousness of white privilege while still making a satire of the events that our social system has constructed.

This surreal comedy capitalizes on what society dictates as the norm and then splits off into a different direction so that we can enjoy the system beating the villain instead of the villain beating the system.

We struggled to find a balance between what the character deserved and how to make him likeable, or at least watchable. Luckily, through some amazing cast members, we believe we found that middle ground where our lead character is portrayed with charm and likeability with just enough scoundrel that you are cheering to see what happens next.

The talented cast and amazing crew all worked for free on this independent passion project. We filmed for three days in the middle of winter and were still lucky enough to have the film look like it was shot during a spring day (at least a soggy, Vancouver spring day).

I’m still amazed at the hard work and dedication of everyone involved who gave up three days of their lives to help put this film together. Long live independent film!

About Tom Hackett

Tom Hackett is a filmmaker who has been doing performance art since he was in high school. A recent graduate of the bachelor of performance arts and motion picture arts programs at Capilano University, Tom has had films premiere at TIFF, Beverly Hills Film Fest and various festivals around the world.  Working as a director, writer and producer is a challenge that he seeks out and thoroughly enjoys.

As an NSI alumni for winning a STORYHIVE grant to film Goons, Tom is incredibly grateful to be a part of the NSI Online Short Film Festival and to have Mr. Richard Francis selected as part of the festival lineup.

As a comedic director, Tom’s love for comedy was developed through the famed Second City Theatre in Toronto as well as various acting coaches and schools in Vancouver. Studying comedy through acting and improv provides an inner view of the comedic world that helps guide Tom into the storytelling world of filmmaking.

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Romantic entanglements, broken toilets and expired pregnancy tests threaten to turn what was supposed to be a fun cottage weekend into a confusing nightmare. It all comes to a head when the mushrooms kick in and the truth comes out.

Creative team

Writer: Amelia Wasserman
Director: Nick Wilson
Producer: Jessica Hinkson

Filmmaker’s statement

I’m going to come out and say that taking magic mushrooms at a cottage is not a completely unfamiliar notion to Canadians (generally speaking of course) and I was excited to play around visually with that idea with the use of (low-budget) special effects and fish-eye lenses.

We were also incredibly lucky to have found the perfect cottage which, in a way, became the fifth character and hugely contributed to the film’s bizarro tone.

About Nick Wilson

Nick Wilson is an award-winning director, cinematographer and editor.

His directing credits include Rob Ford’s Sobriety Coach: Inside the Manic Life and Work of Bob Marier, for Vice.com. He’s also directed the crime series Last Seen Alive (DiscoveryID) and the television documentary Prince of Pot: The US vs Marc Emery (CBC), as well as hundreds of short-form digital docs.

Cinematography credits include numerous films such as Shadow Girl (TVO/BritDoc), My Country (Omni) and many others. Other clients include the Ontario Government, the 2010 Winter Olympics, H.P., VICE and MTV.

Nick’s most recent film as cinematographer and editor, No Place To Hide: The Rehtaeh Parsons Story, was an official selection at the 2015 HotDocs International Film Festival.

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