INSIDE

– Perspective: Channel 4 begins p.1

– Hanley documents the festival p. 27

– There’s more than just barbeque on the spit: Pat Ferns gets roasted p. 32

– Canadian Rockie nominees: who from home is going up against the international heavyweights p. 34

– Stand up for the Comedy Cabaret p. 40

In an eye-crossing, jet lag-inducing calendar of international events which includes endless cycles of acronyms and enough festivals to choke an elk, Banff is a relative oasis of calm. The TV people have time to screen TV shows for a change, and the shop talk includes issues beyond ratings and rights. Television, often dismissed by the critics as hackneyed and asinine, gets treated to ‘artsy’ dialogue too often reserved for film.

It might be the venue – huge snow-topped rocks and the big sky can’t hurt – but there’s something about Banff which lets fresh air into debates on tough subjects. In last year’s Two in a Room, Channel 4 and the CBC took an earnest look at an alternative doc proposal called Planet Queer before the CBC blinked first.

As the uniquely coprod-fertile festival broadens to cover more of the world more of the year, Banff’s tradition of friendly irreverence and casual squeaky-clean Canadian-ness will be its best defence against any global growing pains which might challenge its collaborative consciousness. It’ll still be a beautiful place to make a deal.

* * *

The Canadian nominees for the 1997 Banff Rockie Awards offer a cross-section of this country’s strengths. There’s international coproduction, animation (both traditional and cutting edge), compelling kids’ fare with an educational bent, contemporary drama, biting satire, quirky humor, and genre-elevating docs.

-Animation Programs

ReBoot ‘AndrAIa’

In this episode of the pioneering cgi tv series, an old-fashioned storyline about friendship and loss plays out in a virtual setting.

Production company: Alliance Communications/Mainframe Entertainment

Executive producers: Steve Barron, Stephane Reichel

Producer: Christopher Brough

Writers: Steve Ball, Phil Mitchell, Ian Pearson, Susan Turner

Director: Steve Ball

-What’s Your Pleasure: How Wings are Attached to the Backs of Angels / I’m Your Man

Wraparound footage detailing each director’s creative process ties together two animated shorts: Roslyn Schwartz’s I’m Your Man, set to the Leonard Cohen song of the same name, and Craig Welch’s surreal, exquisitely illustrated gothic tale How Wings are Attached to the Backs of Angels.

Production company: National Film Board

Producers: Barrie Angus McLean, Marcy Page, David Verral

Director: Don McWilliams

-Arts Documentary

Solidarity Song: The Hanns Eisler Story

A documentary portrait of Hanns Eisler, 20th century composer and devoted Communist. The film follows his persecution by German fascists, the Communist government of East Germany, and the u.s. Committee on Un-American Activities, as well as Eisler’s relationships with personalities like Arnold Schonberg, Bertolt Brecht and Charlie Chaplin.

Production companies: Rhombus Media/arte-zdf in association with rtp/Bravo!/nps

Producers: Gabriele Faust, Niv Fichman

Writers: Larry Weinstein, Thomas Wallner

Director: Larry Weinstein

-Children’s Programs

Groundling Marsh ‘Bah Hegdish!’

A host of marsh-dwelling puppets impart an appreciation for the environment in this award-winning children’s series. In this episode, a holiday-hating creature is paid a visit by three ancient Groundling spirits who give him a glimpse of the past, present and future.

Production companies: Portfolio Entertainment/J.A. Delmage Productions in association with ytv/Disney Channel

Executive producer: John Delmage

Producers: Joy Rosen, Lisa Olfman

Writer: Dennis Foon

Director: Shelagh O’Brien

-Short Films by Short People: The Adventures of Sam Digital in the 21st Century

Created by Nick Clarridge, a grade-six student from Toronto, Sam Digital is a 21st century computer virus detective. This episode, part of a series which matches 10- to 12-year-olds with filmmakers, uses a combination of pixelation, stop-motion animation and live action.

Production companies: Sargent York/Nickelodeon

Executive producer: Amy Friedman

Producer: Dorothy Engelman

Writers: Jeff Rockburn, Nick Clarridge

Director: Steve Angel

-Comedy

The Newsroom ‘The Walking Sh’e Incident’

Ken Finkleman created a biting satire about modern media and the cbc, and the cbc aired it. The series, shot within the public broadcaster’s own broadcast center, delights in exposing the hypocritical side of political correctness.

Production company: cbc

Executive producer/writer/director: Ken Finkleman

Producer: Jan Peter Meyboom

-Continuing Series

Due South ‘All the Queen’s Horses’

A Mountie-in-the-city comedy/drama series which captured both Canadian (ctv) and American (cbs) audiences in its first season. Paul Gross is Frasier, an rcmp officer from Canada’s Far North fighting crime and weak morals in Chicago.

Production company: Alliance Communications in association with ctv

Executive producers: Jeff King, Kathy Slevin

Producer: Robert Wertheimer

Writer: Paul Gross

Director: George Bloomfield

-Traders ‘Separation Anxiety’

High stakes, stock prices and ethics vs. business. A dramatic one-hour series which looks at the lives of traders who work on Bay Street rather than Wall Street.

Production company: Atlantis Films in association with the CanWest Global System

Executive producers: Alyson Feltes, Seaton McLean

Producers: Mary Kahn, Hart Hanson

Writer: Alyson Feltes

Director: Alex Chapple

-Information Programs

the fifth estate ‘This Secret Shame’

While one in six kids falls victim to a bully regularly, the blow to a child’s self-esteem nearly always leaves emotional scars. In extreme cases, bullying becomes fatal.

Production company: cbc

Executive producer: David Studer

Producer/writer/director: Morris Karp

-Miniseries:

Omerta: la loi du silence iv & v

Shot like a feature, this one-hour series about secret agent infiltration into the Montreal Mafia conveys a sense of The Godfather on a small screen.

Production company: SDA Productions in association with Radio-Canada

Producers: Francois Champagne, Francine Forest

Writer: Luc Dionne

Director: Pierre Houle

-Performance Special

Lodela

Inspired by myths of the afterlife, this dance piece combines two viewpoints to create an allegory. The objective perspective is shot in 35mm film, showing the dance from the outside. The subjective eye captures the dance from the inside, as experienced by the dancers, using cutting-edge technology in mini-video cameras fixed to the dancers’ bodies.

Production company: National Film Board

Producer: Iolande Cadrin-Rossignol

Writer/director: Philippe Baylaucq

-Warrior Songs

The epic tale of legendary Tibetan warrior-king Gesar told in song, chant, verse and prose. The journey begins with Gesar’s birth, following him into a world where he must overcome uncertainty and failure before he can he assume his birthright as the warrior-king of Ling.

Production companies: Great Eastern Cine Productions/National Film Board in association with Productions du Phare Est

Executive producer: Tom Perlmutter

Producer: Lesley Ann Patten

Director: Renee Blanchar

-Social and Political Documentary

Rape: A Crime of War

This doc exposes the hidden crime of rape in wartime, using the former Yugoslavia as a backdrop where it has been estimated that between 20,000 and 50,000 rapes were committed during the most recent conflicts. Viewers are drawn into the horrors of rape as a weapon of war through the perspectives of victims, prosecutors and perpetrators.

Production company: National Film Board

Producer: Silva Basmajian

Director: Shelley Saywell

-Sports Programs

The Dancing Game

A documentary exploring the tough and sexy world of ballroom dancing – the politics, the personalities, the business, the dancers and the quest for Olympic acceptance.

Production companies: Associated Producers/National Film Board in association with cbc

Producers: Elliott Halpern, Simcha Jacobovici

Writers: Matthew Hart, Simcha Jacobovici

Director: Christa Schadt

Narrator: Graham Haley