Vancouver: Nettie Wild’s 90-minute documentary A Place Called Chiapas (Canada Wild Productions) will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, its theatrical premiere in Vancouver and primetime airing on cbc, all within an 11-day window.

The unusual opening, says Wild, has to do with the cbc’s willingness to be less territorial about its licence and more open to creating awareness through several concurrent marketing initiatives.

‘They’ve really broken the rules,’ says Wild, about the way the cbc-backed documentary is making its way to Canadian audiences. ‘It’s a huge breakthrough and I hope it’s the beginning of a lot more of this.’

‘Here’s a case where local dynamics suggested stepping away from the norm,’ explains Rae Hull, regional director of television at CBC Vancouver.

‘Theatrical exhibitors and broadcasters in Canada share a common goal: to support the Canadian feature film industry. [And the theatrical booking] is a terrific opportunity to pre-promote the television broadcast.’

Wild’s documentary – about the ongoing Zapatista uprising in the Chiapas state of Mexico – was shot over eight months in the jungle canyons of southern Mexico and chronicles the age-old and high-tech ways the leader, Subcomandante Marcos, is presenting the Mayan turmoil to the rest of the world.

The $890,000 film – coproduced and shot by Kirk Tougas – is scheduled to screen at tiff on Sept. 12 and 13, will open at Fifth Avenue Cinemas in Vancouver for the week starting Sept. 18 and play on cbc on Sept. 22.

The film had its world debut at the Berlin festival in February and has been screened in German theaters since. Chiapas just opened in Paris and will play two weeks at New York’s Film Forum beginning Nov. 4.

Wild previously produced the documentaries A Rustling of Leaves (1988) about a Philippines revolution and Blockade (1993) about a Native standoff in northern b.c.

– Next of Sarajevo

Ranfilm Productions will begin filming its second independent feature of the year when production on Shegalla ramps up in Keremeos Sept. 21.

Directed by Mort Ranson and starring Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich and Graham Greene, Shegalla is about a self-destructive sixtysomething non-Native woman who lives on a reserve.

Ranfilm is currently in post-production with West of Sarajevo – a film about the tensions between a Serb and a Muslim living in Vancouver – which was before cameras this spring.

– Also new on view

Red Deer, a small-budget, privately financed feature by producer/director Anthony Couture, wrapped its Vancouver segments Sept. 1.

Taking place in Red Deer, Alta., the comedic film is about a woman who moves into a boarding house. About 60% of production will take place in Red Deer starting Sept. 13.

– Vancouver producer Colleen Nystedt is doing another service deal with Showtime. This time it’s a feature called A Cooler Climate with Sally Field and Judy Davis that shoots between Sept. 14 and Oct. 9. The film explores a friendship that develops between two women.

– tva’s new mow for Fox Family Channel is called Perfect Little Angels, a Stepford Wives-esque tale that shoots until Sept. 25. James Shavick is the local producer.

– Vanfest preview

Themes of music and exile pervade the programs of the Vancouver International Film Festival Sept. 25 to Oct. 11.

The music category will be highlighted by titles such as biography Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog, biography Richter the Enigma (about pianist Sviatslav Richter), Sonic Arts (about the electronic music scene), Black Tears (which explores Cuban music) and a variety of world-music inspired shows.

Exile is represented by titles such as Wasteland (about Romanian Gypsies) and Fragments, Jerusalem (about the Jewish experience).

Special presentations will focus on South Africa in the 1950s and legendary entertainer Josephine Baker.

At the 13th annual Trade Forum – to be held Oct. 7 through 10 at the Hotel Vancouver – producer Roger Frappier (Jesus of Montreal), producer Nik Powell (The Crying Game) and production designer Jan Roelfs (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover) are among the guest participants.

New Filmmakers’ Day returns Oct. 10 with guests Don McKellar (Last Night), Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo) and Tom Burstyn (City of Industry).

– Drive for five

Vancouver’s David Paperny Films has five documentary projects in production, a slate worth $1 million in budgets.

Four are due this fall: a Life and Times installment on industrialist Jimmy Pattison for cbc, a biography for ctv on McDonald’s founder George Cohon and two episodes of War Stories for History Television. A special on the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 is to be delivered to History in the spring.

– Pacific Rim arc

At the ends of Golden Rainbow Entertainment are Vancouver and the Philippines. The West Coast company has acquired the broadcast rights to Filipino programs TV Patrol, which debuts next month on Rogers’ multicultural channel in the Lower Mainland, and Eezy Dancing, which has aired since July on Rogers but moves to primetime next month.

According to the company, TV Patrol (by the ABS/CBN Network in the Philippines) is the most popular news program in that country. Hosted in Tagalog, the half-hour program will air Mondays to Fridays at 11:30 p.m. and focuses on the day’s news.

Eezy Dancing (by the ABC Network in the Philippines) is a one-hour ballroom dancing show and moves to Sundays at 8 p.m. Sept. 27.

– Etc.

A short film by Vancouver’s Too Early Productions was screened at the Sao Paulo Film Festival in Brazil late last month. Blood Brothers, a 12-minute film made for $12,000, is a story about three 13-year-old boys whose friendship is strained when one might have hiv.

Unusual for a local short film is the distribution deal producers Pedro Romero and Andy Chambers inked with Magic Lantern, which plans to package the film for the educational market.

– Burnaby’s TSC Film Distribution has sold the home business series Home Sense (Tri-Media/Partners in Motion) made in Saskatchewan to The Learning Network in Australia.

– Sacred Journey is the second b.c. film to receive interim financing from the new $10-million BC Tel New Media and Broadcast Fund. The film – by producer Howard Dancyger and director Alan Morinis – chronicles a b.c. man’s spiritual travels to India.

– CBC Vancouver has renewed both McKeachie’s Hockey Talk with sportscaster John McKeachie and Booked on Saturday Night, a chat show with writers hosted by Bill Richardson, for the fall lineup. The half-hour Hockey Talk goes Saturdays following the nhl hockey game and Booked airs Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. Both start in October.