Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

A former radical dancer tries to run away from her past.

Creative team

Writer/director: Frieda Luk
Producer: Birgit Gernbock

Filmmaker’s statement

Salome V. is a meditation on female agency and the complicated dynamic between intent and compromise.

The film creates an over-the-top world that doesn’t hesitate to spill into ridiculousness. It is operatic and sweeping in emotional scope. It has set pieces that repurpose pop culture iconography: the hyperbolic textures and ‘vintage’ fashion, the ostentatious decor and the music video reference in the final sequence.

At the core is a magic realist proposition that ‘radicalism’ has a physical consequence and that what you believe actually matters in the world.

About Frieda Luk

Frieda Luk is a filmmaker who has showcased her work in major film festivals around the world.

Prior to filmmaking, Frieda was a Marshall McLuhan fellow at the University of Toronto.

The post Salome V. appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

Caroline is craving affection in her relationship when she discovers a lump in her breast.

Creative team

Writer/director: Andrea Dunne
Producer: Jacqueline Hynes

Filmmaker’s statement

Malignant is a personal film for me, but what has surprised me through the process is how universal our personal stories can be.

So many of us women know that extended feeling of dread that comes from finding something that doesn’t belong in one of the most personal parts of you, and having to wait days to weeks to months to know if you could lose that part, or your life, or just a lot of sleep over something that will never hurt you.

In fact, in the year I developed this script, every time I’ve shared it with a group of people I’ve had one or more of the women share with me how they’ve had almost the same experience. It’s part of the human condition we all share – that the body you inhabit can turn against you and fill you with pain and fear – yet when it happens, regardless of who is in our lives, we’re ultimately up against it alone.

These lonely struggles are so often the things that shape us and make us the stronger people we become, but don’t always seem to be the kind of stories that get told.

Malignant was shot over three days in St. John’s, Newfoundland through NIFCO and Telefilm’s Picture Start Program with a stellar local cast and crew whom I can’t thank enough.

About Andrea Dunne

Andrea Dunne is a writer and short film director hailing from St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Her previous short, Makeover, has played across Newfoundland as part of the Nickel Roadshow, and was featured in the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival.

When not filmmaking, Andrea freelances on features and television series and recently spent time in the production offices of Discovery Canada’s Frontier, CBC’s Republic of Doyle and the upcoming feature film Braven.

Malignant was developed through the Newfoundland Independent Film Co-op’s Picture Start program, and is Andrea’s third directorial effort.

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