Edmonton: After a 12-year focus on the craft of short filmmaking, the Local Heroes Festival in Edmonton is evolving into a showcase for independent Canadian and international feature films.

After wrapping a nine-day run in Edmonton Feb. 27, the 13th annual Local Heroes Festival screened over 45 feature films compared to eight the previous year, and expanded its audience base to include a wider outreach to the public as well as its staple of industry delegates.

The new direction is in response to requests from Local Heroes sponsors, the film community in Edmonton and the provincial and municipal governments, says Cheryl Ashton, executive director of the National Screen Institute-Canada, which hosts the event. ‘They said Edmonton was ready for a larger film festival and we listened.’

With over 9,500 tickets sold at the box office, a 400% increase over last year’s numbers, and delegate registration up by 10%, the festival appears to be on the mark.

‘We have a success on our hands and have laid down a solid template to build on next year,’ says Ashton.

Screening highlights included the world premiere of Frances Damberger’s Heart of the Sun, a coproduction between Alberta’s Makara Pictures and Ennerdale Films of b.c., starring Christianne Hirt and Graham Greene and licensed by the A-Channel Drama Fund.

Arthur Hiller, past president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and director of such classics as Love Story, was a special guest of the festival, taking part in a seminar discussion and presentation of an early classic, The Americanization of Emily.

Julia Sweeney, best known for the androgynous Pat character on Saturday Night Live, screened her feature God Said Ha!, and writer/director John Landis was on hand for the screening of Susan’s Plan.

A special tribute to Rhombus Media was programmed, as were 25 Canadian short films, including the premiere of the 1998 NSI Drama Prize winning films.

Ashton anticipates that as the film lineup expands the public response will grow, as will the industry component, attracting a wider cross-section of Canadian and international filmmakers.

Shorts shine in Winnipeg

In the past, the Edmonton festival emphasized short film screenings and targeted its seminars at emerging filmmakers working in the short format and developing towards feature film production.

This focus has been transplanted to the inaugural Local Heroes currently unspooling (March 8-13) in Winnipeg.

Only nine feature films are being screened whereas the short film lineup includes more than 20 Canadian films in the Declarations of Independents program, a compilation of BravoFact! videos, and a selection of films from Rendez-vous du cinema quebecois.

Three of the screenings are world premieres from local filmmakers – Jean Pellerin’s The Clown at Midnight, led by Margot Kidder and Christopher Plummer and produced by GFT/Paquin Entertainment; the National Film Board documentary The Pill from local directors Erma Buffie and Elise Swerhone; and Cam Bennett’s Breakfast All Day, winner of the cbc Prairie Wave Prize.

Winnipeg is also hosting the Canadian premiere of Saving Grace from New Zealand director Costa Bates.

The films were chosen because they span the gamut of genres, production budgets and expertise, says Ashton, and offer up a range of models for emerging filmmakers.

Buyers on hand scouting for shorts include Brent Haynes, producer of The Comedy Network’s Canadian Comedy Shorts, as well as developer and supervisor of new programming; David Russell of international short film distributor Big Film Shorts; Laura Michalchyshyn, programmer at Showcase Television; Liz Janzen, producer of wtn’s Shameless Shorts; and Tara Ellis, executive in charge of production movies and miniseries, cbc.

Discussing the festival circuit are Helen du Toit (Toronto International Film Festival programmer), Mary Kerr (Sundance Film Festival) and Larry Hansen (Slamdance).

Industry workshops take attendees on a tour through the entire process of filmmaking, beginning with spotting trends in subject matter and style, scriptwriting, preproduction, directing and post-production.

Seminar panelists include Jim Powers (Sling Blade, Niagra, Niagra), head of development at The Shooting Gallery; Anthony Bregman (The Ice Storm, Sense & Sensibility), vp of production at New York-based Good Machine; and Susan Merzbach, a former exec vp of Tom Hanks’ production company and president of Sally Field’s Fogwood Films

Other guests include story editor Al Magee (Highway 61), directors Bruce Sweeny, John Greyson and Sturla Gunnarsson, and Charlotte Mickie, senior vp, acquisitions and development.

Nationwide and

market-driven NSI

The move into Winnipeg is only one of a number of new initiatives underway at the nsi as it sets out to deliver a full spectrum of industry training, from the production of short films and tv half-hours, the development of first features, marketing and business start-up programs and pitching workshops, as well as tailored professional training courses for outside organizations and established filmmakers.

‘You are seeing a National Screen Institute emerge that is making every effort to become national and market driven,’ says Ashton.

Unlike the Canadian Film Centre, where the bulk of training initiatives are housed in Toronto, the nsi will deliver its programs into the regions where the trainees are based.

The flagship Drama Prize has provided the nsi with 12 years experience supporting the production of films in the wide-ranging filmmaking climates across Canada where financing opportunities, production services and expertise vary greatly. Ashton says it is time to bank on that expertise.

‘We are taking our strengths – the fact that we are not a bricks-and-mortar environment, the fact that we can be reactive and inclusive because we have made production happen across the country – and we are going to work this to the best advantage.’

NSI TV production

program in the works

The nsi is finalizing a deal with a national broadcaster for a television program which will bring five or six teams through the development and production of half-hour dramas. Ashton anticipates a call for applications in mid-July and industry partners are currently being rounded up.

Although plans are still tentative, Ashton envisions hiring one executive producer, dop and editor to work on all the films, ensuring consistent themes and production values to package the films as a trilogy. The program will have a strong mentorship aspect, she adds.

Telefilm Canada has indicated interest in renewing its support of the Features First program, says Ashton. The pilot effort two years ago was a $300,000 partnership with Telefilm and supported five regionally based filmmaking teams through a year-long development process.

In its first run, only one of five scripts has made it into production – West of Sarajevo.

A panel of industry professionals is currently looking at ways to retool the program and a call for entries is anticipated for mid-August, with the winning teams to be announced at the Vancouver International Film Festival next year. The program will take projects through development but not into the production process.

The nsi will become a training provider to other organizations in 1999, delivering portable workshops tailored to professional writers, directors and producers seeking expertise in specific areas. A course catalogue describing the range of workshops will be published in early May.

A writers roundtable with Al Magee is slated for Winnipeg and Alberta, as well as a Train The Trainer program designed to develop the teaching skills of established film and tv professionals.

Also on tap is a new business start-up program. Details will be finalized after the Winnipeg festival. The Royal Bank is likely to be involved in the project, which will help producers develop viable self-sustaining companies.

The NSI at Banff

An international marketing course has been developed by former cftpa staffer Mireille Watson and Catherine Hurley through their Toronto company cei. The first workshop will be delivered to Drama Prize recipients at the Banff Television Festival.

The institute will also be sponsoring and developing the producer and director master classes in conjunction with the Banff festival.

The nsi has accessed the Telus/Stentor Innovation Fund and developed a new Website, Screen Trade Canada, at a cost of over $100,000. The site is a resource tool featuring a searchable database covering recent Canadian productions, a Canadian ‘stars’ section with bios and updates on the country’s screen personalities, and a guide to screening locations for Canadian films.

The site, which will be launched to the public in April, also contains an online version of the nsi’s producers workshop.

The nsi’s flagship program, the Drama Prize, offers five filmmaking teams from across Canada $6,000 in cash and $5,500 in production services towards the making of a short film, as well as writing, directing and producing workshops, a premiere at the Local Heroes Festival, and a pitching workshop in Banff.

The total value of each award is $40,000.

Tweaking of the program this year will see training specifically tailored to focus on the needs of the individual projects, overlapping of writer/

director and director/producer workshops so teams can work together to refine the evolving project. Short films will also be limited to 10 minutes.

Industry professionals delivering the workshops will be contracted for the full year and will stay in contact with the Drama Prize teams via the Internet.

1999 Drama Prize

recipients

Chosen from 106 applicants, up from last year’s 74, the 1999 drama prize winners are Between One’s Desire from the Halifax team of writer/director Daun Windover and producer Margaret Harrison (WIC Entertainment Award); autoerotica, from writer/director Mark Wihak and producer Jill Riley of Toronto (Rogers Telefund award); two projects from Calgary – Room 237 from writer/director Michael Dowse and producer Jason Belleville (CBC Award), and Saint Bernadette of Bingo from writer/director James Sutherland and producer Brent Kawchuk (Global Television Network Award); and two from Vancouver teams – Dissonance from writer Timothy Taylor, director Mitchell Kezin and producer Aaron Johnston (Telefilm Canada Award); and When I was Seven, writer/director Jessica Bradford and producer Andrea Bastin (Shaw Children’s Programming Initiative Award).