Edmonton: While it will certainly be under new leadership by year’s end, the Edmonton-based National Screen Institute, and its annual Local Heroes International Screen Festival, will be remaining in Alberta for the foreseeable future.

For its 11-year existence, founder Jan Miller has been the face and voice of the institute and its programs, but this year’s Local Heroes (March 9-15) was Miller’s last. In August, Miller and husband Geoff LeBoutillier of Tohaventa Holdings will be heading east to Nova Scotia, a healthier production climate than can be found in Alberta a year after the elimination of the Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation. But Miller is quick to point out that her decision to move is not directly correlated. ‘Geoff has been looking forward to this for over 20 years,’ says Miller.

Some festival delegates from Atlantic Canada expressed hopes that the institute might move with the executive director (i. e. to their neck of the woods), and Miller admits that the possibility was discussed, but the decision to stay on in Alberta stemmed from strong support from the regional production industry and via sponsors which include The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Telus and Edmonton itself.

‘That possibility was discussed among the board,’ says Garry Toth, chair of the nsi board of directors, ‘but, essentially, we’re very comfortable in Alberta and the administrative infrastructure already exists here. Not to overplay Alberta, of course, because we’re a national institute and we have support from across the country.’

Drama Prize winners

And each area of the country was clearly in attendance at Local Heroes, including the teams chosen as winners of the 1997 NSI Drama Prize. Chosen from over 100 applications, the six winning teams will be paired with an industry mentor in their region and receive production incentives to the tune of $6,000 in cash and $5,500 in service sponsorships.

Members of the teams will attend week-long workshops on writing, production and direction this spring in Edmonton, and their shorts will premiere at the 1998 Local Heroes. After exhibition at the fest, the teams have full delegate status at the Banff Television Festival, including the much-lauded pitching workshop.

‘We absolutely think we’re effectively developing Canadian talent with this program,’ says Miller. ‘We hit 34 short films this year, and we’ve added another team so we’ll have six new films next year.’

This year’s Drama Prize recipients represent Vancouver (The Alley from Jennifer Clement, Bill Dow and Aaron Bushkowsky), Calgary (Game Seven from Robert Cuffley and Ando Leuchter), Saskatoon (The Caretakers from Ty Hyland-Lott, June Morgan and Jacqueline Kwan-Morgan), Ottawa (The Chicken Tree from Susan Terrill and Sara Snow), Montreal (The Rogers’ Cable from Katherine Baulu and Jennifer Kierans) and Halifax (Lara’s Light from Joanna Hilchie and Marie Koehler).

One of the unique features of Local Heroes is the dialogue between audience and filmmakers which follows each of the Declarations of Independents screenings, and the afternoon sessions spawned some moments of heated debate.

While most of the discussion revolved around artistic elements, the issue of actra and its low-budget production policy raised its head during a number of sessions. Some of the filmmakers claimed to have been given permission by actra to have members donate their performances, and others complained that actra would not permit members to work gratis on their films.

Hosted by Nova Scotia filmmaker Lulu Keating, each afternoon also featured an international acquisition entity. The guest moderators were Joy Toma from Australia’s sbs tv’s short showcase eat carpet, Harold Warren from New York’s Forefront Films, Sydney Neter from Amsterdam’s Neter Distribution, and Tara Ellis from cbc’s Canadian Reflections.

While each of the guests posed and answered questions (usually about logistics like length, format and music rights), Neter made a point of announcing his interest in hearing documentary and short proposals for potential Holland/ Canada coproductions, preferably projects with a Dutch angle.

‘Steal money’ to make films

Combining artistry and business was the theme of the morning industry seminars except, perhaps, for the first of the series. Ontario Film Development Corporation ceo Alexandra Raffe hosted a two-hour conversation with the outspoken and often outrageous Australian filmmaker Paul Cox on the first morning, and Cox – who has been bankrupted by his craft on at least one occasion – told an audience of emerging filmmakers they have a ‘moral obligation to steal the money’ to make their films.

Cox, whose film Lust & Revenge played to a healthy crowd on Wednesday night, spoke passionately about his belief in government support for film, ‘responsible budgeting,’ and the ‘ridiculous profession’ of filmmaking in general.

Butting Heads, Scratching Backs

Thursday and Friday morning featured panels on multimedia and marketing respectively, but the Saturday seminar – entitled Butting Heads, Scratching Backs – captured particular audience interest.

Arvi Liimatainen (Jake & The Kid) hosted a panel which included producer Kate Holowach of Blue Sky Communications, writer/director/producer John Pozer (The Grocer’s Wife, Kissed) and Forrest Murray (Tim Robbins’ Bob Roberts, The Spitfire Grill) on the relationships between producers and directors.

Taking audience questions throughout the two hours, the panelists shared some of their own ‘defining moments’ (‘If I ever hear you say ‘my vision’ again, you’ll go through that window’ was one of Murray’s) as well as their philosophies on how to make the partnership work.

An emphasis on the role of producer was evident in the session, as it is in the whole philosophy of the nsi. The Drama Prize, for example, requires each team to separate the roles of director and producer.

sbs tv’s Joy Toma also spoke on the topic in the afternoon sessions, saying there’s merit in the Australian production method for shorts whereby there’s always a separate producer. Meanwhile, filmmakers from many Canadian regions were bemoaning an apparent lack of producers willing to take on short films.

SRO for Global Heroes

Global Heroes – the evening screenings which featured a Drama Prize winner and a full-length film each night – saw impressive local attendance, culminating with a standing-room-only crowd for Italian Edoardo Winspeare’s Pizzicata on Friday. All of the Global Heroes filmmakers in attendance (Cox, Winspeare, and New Zealander Gregor Nicholas) took part in all or most of the festival, chipping in their two cents’ worth at the afternoon screenings.

Forrest Murray took a particular shine to one of the 1996 Drama Prize winners, Toll, exchanging cards with Vancouver writer/director Tara Cowell-Plain and expressing a clear interest in working together.

A number of the shorts from Declarations of Independents garnered interest from domestic and international buyers, with a particular buzz around Toll (Cowell-Plain and producer Pam Portsmouth), La vie arretee (Martin Allard and producer Julie Morin), Cynthia Wells’ Black Angels, Susan Terrill’s Cream Sauce, Naomi McCormack’s The Hangman’s Bride, and Elizabeth Murray’s Vancouver 37.

‘We’re thrilled with the response to our programming,’ says Miller. ‘Facilitating that kind of interaction is why the festival exists.’