In order to fully capture the diversity of its industry panels and discussions, Rogers Industry Centre has changed its tiff event name from ‘Symposium’ to ‘Sessions,’ and has unveiled its lineup for Sessions 2000, taking place at the festival, Sept. 7-16.

‘The mandate of the industry centre is to educate, as broadly as possible, the different sectors of the industry and to facilitate connections between different sectors,’ says Kelley Alexander, director of Rogers Industry Centre.

Open to all guests of the festival, including filmmakers, actors and writers, the sessions run throughout the week. Most of the sessions are 60 minutes except for the keynote interview and Pitch This! forum, which include a lunch. The Telefilm Canada Micro-Meetings also run during tiff. For specific schedules, check the Rogers website at www.rogersic.com

Sessions 2000

Keynote Interview: Jeremy Thomas interviewed by David Cronenberg This keynote involves respected filmmaker Jeremy Thomas, Academy Award-winner and independent producer/director of critically acclaimed art house films, and David Cronenberg, his collaborator on Crash and Naked Lunch.

(Sponsored by Cinemax)

The Mavericks: Filmmaker Sessions offers eight informal and interactive industry-only sessions. This is the second year for the informative sessions featuring several studio and independent filmmakers from around the world. This year’s participants – chosen for their artistic integrity – include Amos Gita, Barbara Kopple, Guy Maddin, Joel Schumacher, and Agnes Varda.

‘One thing we want to do is give inspiration back to filmmakers. The individuals invited have all stayed true to their vision, some in the studio system and some alternative,’ says Alexander.

(Sponsored by The Harold Greenberg Fund and Directors Guild of Canada-Ontario District Council)

Telefilm Canada Pitch This! is a new session this year, which promises to be unpredictable and exciting. Six Canadian production teams have six minutes each to pitch their idea for a feature film to the Rogers Industry Centre’s international advisory committee and audience.

The winning pitch will be announced at the end of the day and the winner will receive a cheque for $6,000 to help them get their completed project into a major international film festival. The finalists, chosen from applications from across the country, are Mark de Valk, Sheila Jordan, Chris Philpott, Rosemary House and Mary Sexton, Anne Masson and Bonnie Anderson, and Allan Tong and Marcel Giroux.

(Sponsored by Telefilm Canada)

Projections: The Future of Global Exhibition addresses what opportunities still exist for independent films and how to maneuver in the global film market.

‘For the first time we’re bringing in individuals to speak on global exhibition, to really talk about how the landscape is changing, so that filmmakers and producers can understand that it’s not just about getting a distributor, but what the distributor is thinking when they’re going to release the film and there’s limited screen time available,’ says Alexander.

Moderated by Sydney Levine (Film Finders), the panel includes Tom Brueggemann (Sundance Film Centers), Tony Cianciotta (Cineplex Odeon), Steven Friedlander (Fine Line Features), and Joseph Peixoto (United Cinemas International).

Fade to Black: The Crisis of Film Preservation ‘Film preservation is an issue that a lot of filmmakers don’t think about,’ says Alexander. ‘How is their work going to be protected and restored? We are going to be addressing it as a global issue, but the panel will be speaking to Canadian works.’

Panelists include Robert Daudelin (curator and director general of La Cinematheque Quebecoise), Sam Kula (Association of Moving Image Archivists), Jonathan Rosenbaum (Chicago Reader), Patricia Rozema (Mansfield Park), and National Archivist of Canada, Ian E. Wilson.

(Presented by the Audio Visual Preservation Trust of Canada and moderated by Lisa de Wilde, president & ceo of Astral Television Networks)

The Face of European Cinema Today presents 10 of Europe’s most talented directors, including Florian Flicker, Romuald Karmakar, Baltasar Kormakur, Laura Mana and Jamie Thraves, who discuss current filmmaking issues.

First Voices: Aboriginal Women Storytellers features actor Tantoo Cardinal moderating this new session focusing on aboriginal filmmakers. The panel includes Shirley Cheechoo (Backroads), Alanis Obomsawin (Rocks at Whiskey Trench), and Loretta Todd (Forgotten Warriors).

(Presented in collaboration with the Centre for Aboriginal Media Arts Festival Imaginative, which runs concurrent with tiff)

Kinetic Potential: Remapping Film allows filmmakers to discuss the progression from creating on film towards producing for the Net.

Participants include filmmaker and storyboard artist Vincenzo Natali (Cube) and director Pierre-Paul Renders.

Prophets and Profits: The Impact of New Media on Film is a new and timely look at the business-to-business impact of new technologies on traditional marketplaces, ‘such as the impact of online critics and word of mouth exchanged on consumer-based website chat sites on traditional release strategies and online markets,’ says Alexander.

Kevin Wendle (ifilm) moderates a panel that includes Gerald Peary (The Boston Phoenix), Beki Probst (European Film Market in Berlin), Jeffrey Wells (Mr. Showbiz and Reel.com) and Dennis Young (Reelplay.com).

Global Exhibition Case Study features two case studies of how challenging it can be to market and distribute an independent film, and how to succeed. Two case studies are featured: Jeremy Podeswa’s The Five Senses and Eric Rohmer’s Conte d’Automne.

Isabelle Dubar (ID Distribution), Peter Kalmbach (USA Films), Emanuel Levy (Variety), Charlotte Mickie (Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Group) and Regine Schmid (TiMe Medienvertriebs GmbH) comprise the panel.

For Words of Wisdom: Mentoring the Next Generation, panelists include producer U. Mafu Balalavi, producer Pauline Clague, filmmaker Salone Ishahavut, producer Sally Riley (Confessions of a Headhunter) and Jeremy Torrie (Indian Cultural Education Productions).

(Presented in collaboration with the Centre for Aboriginal Media Arts Festival Imaginative)

(www.cyberfilmschool.com and Independent Production Fund sponsor Sessions 2000 panels.)

Telefilm’s Micro-Meetings

More intimate than Sessions 2000, Micro-Meetings are thoroughly interactive and internationally focused discussions of up to 15 people. Industry insiders get to talk with industry experts in these hour-long meetings. About 30 meetings are set.

‘When people come to the festival, they have a limited amount of information, says Alexander. ‘They can look at the list of delegates attending and say, ‘I need to meet so-and-so from Miramax,’ when in fact there might be many more people that it would be beneficial for them to know about. We want to provide an opportunity to put very interesting people forward so relationships and knowledge about these companies can develop. We’re putting new people forward to expand the scope.’

This year’s diverse lineup of experts includes Jason Blum and Amy Israel, producers and founders of Blum Israel Productions and former acquisitions executives at Miramax; Norm Bolen, senior vp programming, Showcase and History Television, who has more than 25 years experience as a journalist and broadcaster; and Naoko Tsukeda, deputy gm, Pony Canyon.

Other participants are Dietmar Guntsche, producer, Bioskop-Film ghbh; John Houlton, director, British Film Office in l.a.; Amy Israel, producer, Blum Israel Productions; Jonathan Kier, manager of Worldwide Acquisitions, Eveo; Michael Perlmutter, music supervisor, S.L. Feldman & Associates; Howard Rosen, co-president, Gun For Hire (Toronto) Co. and ceo Roadhouse Productions.

Rounding out the list are Julia Rosenberg, Serendipity Point Films; Adrienne Stern, casting director, Adrienne Stern Casting; Naoko Tsukeda, deputy gm, Pony Canyon; Wolfram Tichy, copresident, Vif Film Produktion; John Vanco, co-president, Cowboy Booking International; and Elizabeth Yake, producer, Subjective Eye. *

-www.rogersic.com