Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Watch new teaser for STORYHIVE 100K project The PsyBorgs

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 11:19 AM PST

The team behind TELUS STORYHIVE 100K project The PsyBorgs, from creator David Haitt, have released a new teaser trailer.

The malicious General Blight and the insidious forces of T.O.X.I.N. have moved beyond selling cigarettes to kids and set their sights on total galactic domination.

Unfortunately for Blight, John Carbon and his team of super soldiers are ready to take down whatever bad guys General Blight sends their way.

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NSI Features First 2018 training boot camp kicks off in Toronto

Posted: 05 Feb 2018 07:49 AM PST

The National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) is proud to announce the start of its week-long 2018 NSI Features First training boot camp, which kicks off today in Toronto.

“I’m so excited to welcome all of this year’s guest faculty members to the NSI Features First boot camp. The knowledge, experience and market intelligence these pros pass on to the students will serve them now during their training and throughout their careers,” said program manager Shelly Quade.

The 2018 NSI Features First associate faculty are:

NSI Features First training takes place over the next 10 months. The course is managed by Shelly Quade alongside program advisor Al Magee. Al will also conduct story editing and pitch sessions with the participants.

The 2018 NSI Features First projects and teams are:

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NSI Features First 2018 is funded by Presenting Sponsor Telefilm Canada; Supporting Sponsors Entertainment One, Super Channel, Corus Entertainment and Breakthrough Entertainment; and Service Sponsor William F. White. NSI Core Funders are Manitoba Sport, Culture & Heritage and the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

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 and TELUS STORYHIVE Web Series and Digital Shorts.

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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Give the gift of story: Donate to NSI

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Kwadacha By The River

Posted: 31 Jan 2018 03:00 PM PST

Decades after being flooded out of their territory by a hydroelectric dam, the Indigenous northern BC community of Kwadacha grapples with the cultural and social impact that the loss of their land has on their heritage.

Creative team

Writers: Dave Shortt, Jessica Hallenbeck
Directors: Dave Shortt, Jessica Hallenbeck, Mitchell McCook
Producers: Lantern Films, Kwadacha First Nation

Filmmaker’s statement

Directing Kwadacha by the River was a profoundly humbling and life-changing experience.

When I was first approached to create a film about the devastating human impacts of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, one of the largest dams in the world, I wanted to ensure that the Kwadacha community had editorial control over the way their story was told.

We shot the film over two years, hosting meetings, screenings and feasts with Kwadacha elders and leaders. The animation in the film was co-created by students at the community’s high school.

Despite ongoing trauma from the dam’s construction, and the loss of their territory, Kwadacha came together to share a painful story – one which everyone should know.

Kwadacha by the River is not only a story of devastation, it is also about the strength of the Tsek’ene people and their courage to share personal and difficult truths with others.

About Jessica Hallenbeck

Jessica Hallenbeck is a professionally trained filmmaker and community planner with over 15 years experience in documentary film production, participatory video facilitation and educational video creation. She has operated her own successful consulting practice for six years.

Jessica holds a BA in film from Queen’s University, an MA in community planning from the University of British Columbia (UBC), and is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at UBC.

Jessica is the co-founder of Lantern Films.

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Esmerelda’s Castle

Posted: 31 Jan 2018 02:53 PM PST

Set in the 1970’s, Lydia’s days are mostly the same. She spends her afternoons at the office workin’ for the man.

But this afternoon’s smoke break takes a turn for the mysterious when this secretary and her shoe-shining companion enter the alternative world of Esmerelda’s Castle, a dingy dive for queens that drag and dream.

Creative team

Writers/directors: Rachel Cairns, Sarah Hempinstall
Producers: Rachel Cairns, Sarah Hempinstall, Anthony J. Baldwin

Filmmaker’s statement

We all have secrets and things we keep private or selectively share: desires of the heart, alternative identities. This is a story about the unique human ability to lie and dream.

About Rachel Cairns and Sarah Hempinstall

Rachel Cairns and Sarah Hempinstall are the dream team behind Life’s A Trip Productions. They are divas on a dime and the creators of the web series Budz about two gal pals who started from the bottom … and will most likely stay there.

Esmerelda’s Castle is their first short film, made in partnership with the Toronto YEAA Shorts Residency.

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Saturn Devours

Posted: 31 Jan 2018 02:43 PM PST

A young man suffers a surreal string of bad luck around the same time an ancient god starts following him around town.

An offbeat magical realist comedy about astrology, gay sex, and millennial ennui.

Creative team

Writer/director: Johnnie Walker
Producer: Blain Watters

Filmmaker’s statement

Every 27-30 years, the planet Saturn returns to the place in the sky it occupied at the moment of your birth. According to astrologists, the planet (tied to the cruel and bloodthirsty Roman god who shares its name) brings with it a period of upheaval and turmoil when it makes its fateful return.

Saturn Devours exists in a world where the lines between science and magic are blurred and ancient gods come down to Earth just to ruin your day.

About Johnnie Walker

Johnnie is a filmmaker, theatre artist, and DJ. His solo show Redheaded Stepchild has toured North America and was published by Playwrights Canada Press.

He is an Artist in Residence at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, where he is working on a new play called Shove It Down My Throat. He also runs Hey Girl Hey, a monthly queer hip-hop dance party/drag show where all songs played must feature a female artist.

Saturn Devours is his first film.

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Lookout

Posted: 31 Jan 2018 02:29 PM PST

Gaining elevation is a very complex concept. The higher we ascend, the more removed we are from normal everyday affairs but, the broader our gaze becomes, the more profound our sense of our situation in the world.

Lookout is a personal experimental documentary that examines this kind of elevation or ‘lookout’ through the discovery of human ashes atop a mountain and a distinct, yet fragmented, audio collage of 80’s mix cassette tapes.

Creative team

Writers: Kyath Battie, Terra Long
Director/producer: Kyath Battie

Filmmaker’s statement

Lookout attempts to make sense of a five-year existential discovery, started in 2008, of found human ashes atop Pkols (Mt. Douglas Park) in Victoria, BC. The site-specific location of this unusual discovery then became the point of reference and perspective of who and what I filmed.

At the same time I was filming, I was also working on an audio collage that consisted of cutting 80’s cassette tapes together. Although seemingly incongruent to each other, both filming and the sound project were connected through impermanence, nostalgia and an anonymous death.

About Kyath Battie

Kyath Battie is a filmmaker and experimental media artist with specific interests in mysteries, landscapes and sound design.

Her work ranges from personal and observational documentaries to atmospheric spatial explorations of space. Her work also involves large-scale viewership, often creating a fine line between a cinematic and still photographic experience.

She teaches in the Department of Cinema at Denison University in Ohio.

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