Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Loving newlywed husband Paul Seger is making the other guys in the neighbourhood look bad. Time for The United Guys Network to step in and teach him how to be a real husband.

Creative team

Writer: Montgomery Burt
Director: Tabatha Golat
Producer: Andrea Griffiths

Filmmaker’s statement

The United Guys Network is a STORYHIVE-funded short film shot in Vancouver, BC. We had a limited crew and cast but a lot of heart! This production was shot in three days with a hilarious production team that kept us laughing the whole way through.

The story follows a doting newlywed husband who is kidnapped by his male neighbours and taught to be more ‘manly’ through a series of ridiculous, traditionally male tasks (taking charge of the remote control, drinking beer, etc). The idea is tongue in cheek in what we’ve dubbed a ‘reverse Stepford Wives‘ sort of way.

I was introduced to the writer of The United Guys Network, Montgomery Burt, while attending a filmmaking workshop and we instantly hit it off. He pitched his idea and I was hooked.

After reading the script I was fully committed to get this film off the ground, and thus began our fundraising efforts. When the opportunity to apply for the STORYHIVE grant came we jumped, et voila!

We’re proud to say that The United Guys Network has appeared in over 25 festivals and won several awards.

We hope you have as much fun watching the film as we did making it.

About Tabatha Golat

Tabatha Golat is a producer, writer, director, editor (and wearer of many hats).

Tabatha is an award-winning filmmaker for her short film Ten Thousand Steps. She has written and directed a feature and two shorts, as well as several music videos and corporate videos.

Her latest project, The United Guys Network, was funded by TELUS STORYHIVE. It won best short at the Austin Short Comedy Film Festival in 2016.

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After his new girlfriend unearths a box of sensitive memorabilia, an obsessive runner must confront his first love – his science teacher – to save their relationship.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Bunthivy Nou
Producer: Randy Pelletier

Filmmaker’s statement

Green Light is a short drama about a young man who confronts his former high school teacher with whom he had a relationship as a teenager.

I want to use the street intersection as a metaphor for the crossroad that Preston faces, whether he chooses to move forward with his life or not. The concept of ‘crossroads’ is threaded throughout to tell this story through the use of patterns in wardrobes and set design (ie. plaids, checkers, crosses etc).

Preston is very much in a state of limbo. The small apartment he shares with girlfriend Raye still has some moving boxes lying around. Although Preston paints the portrait of a well-adjusted young man, we see glimmers of cracks in his character. His relationship with Jane, his attractive science teacher, as a 14-year-old boy has affected him in ways he has long refused to acknowledge.

His confusion of love and sexual gratification has Preston constantly trying to fill a hole inside. His passion for running has become a manifestation of his inability to overcome his shame and forgive himself, but for what?

In a moment of clarity, we witness Preston finding the courage to stop running from his past and move forward with his life, culminating in a confrontation with his former teacher to answer the ultimate question of why.

This coming-of-age story is an intimate character-driven film that centres on the relationship dynamics between Preston, Jane and Raye while exploring the personal struggles of the protagonist. The themes of guilt, shame and forgiveness are explored.

Although Preston’s experience is not something I can directly relate to, the universal theme of forgiving yourself in order to move forward is something I can connect with. I believe this will also resonate with audiences, and I hope audiences will find inspiration through the protagonist’s struggles.

About Bunthivy Nou

Bunthivy Nou is an award-winning filmmaker and actor based in Fredericton.

President and owner of Yellowwood Pictures, her first short film, A Lion’s Tale, debuted at the Atlantic Film Festival and won best short New Brunswick drama (2008 Silver Wave Film Festival).

She was selected to direct Hide and Seek, which was one of three short films produced through the New Brunswick Film Co-op’s Diplomatic Relations film series. Her short comedy Super Geek Math Boy! won best short New Brunswick comedy (2010 Silver Wave Film Festival).

Bunthivy is a dean’s scholar graduate with a BA in multimedia studies and a certificate in film production from the University of New Brunswick. She also trained at the Summer Institute for Film and Television, New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Co-op, Atlantic Filmmakers Co-op, the London Film School (UK), and was selected to participate in the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s national apprenticeship training program in 2007-08.

Since 2003, she’s worked on over 30 productions including short films and two features (Stuck, Blue Seduction). She participated at the 2012 PEI Screenwriters Bootcamp to develop a feature-length script.

Keys, a feature film project by Bunthivy and her producing/writing partner Randy Pelletier, was recently shortlisted for the Telefilm Feature Film Micro-Budget Production Program.

Bunthivy is a member of the New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Co-op (past president and board member) and a member of Women in Film and Television – Atlantic.

The post Green Light appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

[CONTENT WARNING]

A young woman struggling to come to terms with a traumatic sexual experience finds herself in competition with her roommate over the same man.

Over the course of one night, a startling discovery forces her to confront her past and re-evaluate her relationships.

Creative team

Writer: Katie McMillan
Directors: Katie McMillan, Adam Goldhammer
Producers: Adam Goldhammer, Evan Landry

Filmmakers’ statement

Easy Girl is a film we are very passionate about and have been working on for the past two years.

The story is a reflection on patriarchy, rape culture and female relationships that seeks to challenge widely accepted portrayals of cattiness as a natural or inevitable relationship between women.

Instead, this film encourages the audience to place judgement on characters that seem recognizable, but turns those stereotypes on their head, forcing the audience to re-evaluate their assumptions and their own complicity in creating these stereotypes.

Easy Girl also challenges representations of sexual assault as sensationalized and moralistic rather than messy and confusing, as is more often the reality. Showing sex and sexuality on screen from the perspective of a female subject is still unfortunately rare. As a result, discussing or depicting the complex aftermath of sexual assault is still taboo, isolating survivors rather than acknowledging and validating their experience.

It was our goal with this film to portray the awkward, uncomfortable and sometimes traumatic experience of sex through a female point of view that does not seek to objectify or sexualize the female body through the traditional male gaze of the camera.

More importantly, we wanted to address our own complicity in maintaining a culture that objectifies, isolates and judges women, supporting the prevalence of gender-based violence.

Thank you for taking the time to screen our film, we look forward to hearing from you. – Katie and Adam

About Katie McMillan and Adam Goldhammer

Easy Girl is Katie McMillan’s directorial debut. She wrote the short film Worst. Day. EVER., and has performed her comic songs on Toronto’s Second City main stage.

Katie is the general manager at Tangled Art + Disability and has been the lead researcher on three Women in View reports highlighting the underrepresentation of women as content creators in Canadian film and television.

Adam Goldhammer is a Toronto-based filmmaker whose work aims to explore the lives of marginalized protagonists struggling with their conception of reality. His short film Easy Girl played at Cannes 2016 as an official selection of the Coup de Cour program.

He wrote and directed Jesse, a short film staring Degrassi’s Jake Epstein, which was a finalist on CBC Short Film Face Off and screened at numerous festivals internationally.

His other short films include 1-800-CHOICES (New Filmmakers, New York) and Worst. Day. EVER. (Canadian Film Festival, Sacramento Horror Film Festival), and his directorial debut, the comedy web series Little Cat Version of Me, received rave reviews online and was a semi-finalist in Los Angeles’ NexTV Webseries Competition.

Adam is a graduate of the director’s lab at Norman Jewison’s Canadian Film Centre and is currently developing his first feature film.

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