The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television along with members of Toronto City Council honored filmmakers of the future by giving them hands-on opportunities to hone their crafts.

The City of Toronto Screen Apprenticeship Award and the National Apprenticeship Training Program, now in their 15th year, give professional training to Canadian students who have completed post-secondary film, television, communications or related studies.

Launched in 1984, natp was modeled after the City of Toronto Screen Apprenticeship Award, and according to acct president and ceo Maria Topalovich, boasts a 100% success rate, with more than 120 grads being trained and integrated into the Canadian film and tv industry.

Due to the growing number of entries, Topalovich says she is hoping to expand the program to include more sponsors and more apprenticeships in more categories.

Students apprentice on a 12-week training program, which may include a number of different productions in their area of interest. Trainees receive an honorarium of $300 a week and have between May 1999 and March 2000 to complete their training.

At a luncheon held at Toronto City Hall May 20, Melanie Jeffrey picked up the City of Toronto Screen Apprenticeship Award for direction, Teri Snelgrove of Emily Carr Institute won the B.C. Film Fund Director Apprenticeship Award, and York University grad Kenneth Yeung received the Kodak Canada Cinematography Apprenticeship Award.

NATP Ontario awards went to York grads Michael Greenspan and Samara Truster (direction), Trisha Robins (editing) and Jeff Szpirglas (screenwriting).

Humber College grad Nelson Davis will get a shot at producing, Michael Ogawa will train with a producer, and Algonquin College grad Matthew West will get a taste of directing.

natp alumni include Scott L. Peters, nominated for a 1997 Gemini for writing on Are You Afraid of the Dark? and three-time Gemini winner for sound David McCallum. Alex Chappel has directed episodes of Traders and Ready or Not, Winnifred Jong is a script supervisor on Psi Factor and Mark Steinberg apprenticed alongside Atom Egoyan.