Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Best of the NSI Online Short Film Fest 2017: winners of the A&E Short Filmmakers Award

Posted: 19 Dec 2017 01:24 PM PST

As 2017 comes to a close, we look back at the winners of this year’s A&E Short Filmmakers Award for best film in the NSI Online Short Film Festival.

Chosen by an independent jury, these films are some of the most outstanding from our 2017 slate. Each filmmaker wins a cash prize courtesy of our long-standing festival sponsor A&E Television Networks and a complimentary Friend membership to the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

Thank you to all our festival sponsors for supporting great Canadian talent.

Regular festival programming returns with new films on January 8. And we’ll be issuing a call for films later in the month. Until then, enjoy the best of the fest.

90 Days

90 Days | Drama, 18:37, English, ON, 2014 | Director: Timothy Yeung

On a Chinese girl’s first night in Hong Kong, she is brought into the world of prostitution while trying to make a single phone call.

She Stoops to Conquer

She Stoops to Conquer | Comedy, 15:00, English, ON, 2015 | Director: Zachary Russell

An aspiring performer struggles to breathe life into a new character she’s created.

Suddenly, she sees him: the real-life version of the man she’s been playing. Where’s the line between inspiration and theft?

A gender-bending romantic comedy about a man and her double.

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.

The Suitcase

The Suitcase | Drama, 10:57, Mandarin with English subtitles, ON, 2016 | Director: Philip Leung

A mother from rural China must calm her daughter over the phone as she is smuggled to Canada in a suitcase. As her daughter confronts airline attendants, guard dogs and baggage handlers from within the suitcase, the mother paints a rosy picture of her daughter’s surroundings in order for her not to panic.

This live action/animated film deals with the resilience of immigrants and the lengths they go through to establish a better future for their family.

• • •

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 and Blue Ant Media; and Industry Partner the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

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Death Wish by Chad Costen + 2 more films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival

Posted: 19 Dec 2017 12:22 PM PST

Three new films in the NSI Online Short Film Festival this week from directors Chad Costen, Jesse Lupini and Ariella Pahlke.

Death Wish

Death Wish | Comedy, 11:00, English, BC, 2010 | Director: Chad Costen

Death touches a little girl’s soul by granting her fondest wish on Christmas Eve.

El Otro Lado De La Pasión

El Otro Lado De La Pasión | Comedy, 5:00, Spanish with English subtitles, BC, 2017 | Director: Jesse Lupini

Rodolfo Ignacio’s green card marriage is in danger because he thinks he’s a telenovela character. The worst part? It’s contagious.

Suzanne Gauthier: One thing leads to another

Suzanne Gauthier: One thing leads to another | Documentary, 15:00, English, NS, 2017 | Director: Ariella Pahlke

Filmmaker Ariella Pahlke weaves the life and work of Suzanne Gauthier into a poetic narrative that mirrors the artist’s own process, capturing the flux in her work and how it’s interrelated with her environment.

Intricately blending autobiography, landscape and culture, Gauthier navigates the marvellous and the ordinary, often infusing both with humour.

• • •

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 and Blue Ant Media; and Industry Partner the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

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Free screening of Birth of a Family in Winnipeg, January 17

Posted: 19 Dec 2017 12:14 PM PST

Birth of a Family, the acclaimed feature-length doc from Tasha Hubbard (NSI IndigiDocs, Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program) screens in Winnipeg on January 17, co-hosted by the NFB and the University of Winnipeg as part of the Weweni Speaker Series.

In the film, three sisters and a brother, adopted as infants into separate families across North America, meet for the first time.

Removed from their young Dene mother’s care as part of Canada’s infamous Sixties Scoop, Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie and Ben were four of the 20,000 Indigenous children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or to live in foster care.

Birth of a Family screens January 17, 2018 at 7 p.m. at the University of Winnipeg’s Eckhardt Gramatté Hall and is free of charge. The film is followed by a Q&A with director Tasha.

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Suzanne Gauthier: One Thing Leads to Another

Posted: 14 Dec 2017 01:25 PM PST

Filmmaker Ariella Pahlke weaves the life and work of Suzanne Gauthier into a poetic narrative that mirrors the artist’s own process, capturing the flux in her work and how it’s interrelated with her environment.

Intricately blending autobiography, landscape and culture, Gauthier navigates the marvellous and the ordinary, often infusing both with humour.

Creative team

Writer/director: Ariella Pahlke
Producers: Louise Waters, Ariella Pahlke

Filmmaker’s statement

When Louise Waters and Suzanne Gauthier first invited me to tea in order to explain their idea for a short doc about the art and life of Suzanne, I immediately agreed to explore this possibility.

After a few more meetings and brainstorming sessions the ideas were starting to flow so we had a few shoots to start gathering material for the film. Suzanne’s 45 years of work are carefully stored away in boxes and can be found in permanent collections of various art galleries and museums.

I found it fun and very challenging to try to get Louise and Suzanne to understand the filmmaking process as they come from a visual artist discipline.

We persevered, and together with cinematographer Nance Ackerman and music from one of Suzanne’s favourite bands, Ostrea Lake, we worked our way through a few rough edits and came up with this 15-minute film which encapsulates the curiosity, joy, and layered references that are central to Suzanne’s artwork.

One thing led to another. The process was fluid … you could see how works created in the past are connected to the present and how her inspiration carries through. Gauthier’s artistic process influenced my creative approach to the film.

About Ariella Pahlke

Ariella Pahlke is an award-winning Canadian documentary filmmaker, video artist, curator and educator living in Terence Bay, Nova Scotia.

With a background in philosophy, Ariella has spent the past 22 years creating documentaries and independent shorts, collaborating on multi-media performance pieces, curating, consulting and teaching.

Her film and video work has been shown on television, at festivals, online and in galleries throughout Canada and the US, and in Norway, India, New Zealand and South Africa.

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