The National Screen Institute, in partnership with Telefilm Canada, has chosen five projects for its 2000 Features First program.

The program was created in 1997 to provide emerging filmmakers with the skills necessary to finish a first or second feature and to help them prepare their projects for financing and the marketplace.

Selected projects are: Polaroids of Don, produced by Virginia Thompson and written and directed by Robert de Lint, both of Regina; Wednesday, 9:00 a.m., produced by Jennifer Harkness and written and directed by James Hyslop both of Toronto; Inertia, produced by Brendon Sawatzky and written and directed by Sean Garrity, both of Winnipeg; The Cosmonaut’s Handbook, produced by Ari Cohen and written and directed by Anthony Seck, both of Montreal; and Flower and Garnet, produced by Trish Dolman and written and directed by Keith Behrman, both of Vancouver.

Participants will work with veteran producer Alexandra Raffe (I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, I Love A Man In Uniform, The Lotus Eaters) to help move their projects to complete final stage development.

Two Features First projects, My Father’s Angel and Violet, have completed principal photography since completing the program, organizers say.