FilmExchange: NSI’s Canadian Film Festival, held Feb. 23 to March 2 in Winnipeg, reports attendance as nearly double from last year.

The fest was formerly known as Local Heroes, but the name change reflects a new outlook for the National Screen Institute, which was looking to increase the marketability of the Canadian-exclusive event.

The opening day featured ‘snow-screen’, in which the best of Winnipeg animation was projected on a huge block of snow. The highlight for the 500 spectators was the appearance of Cordell Barker to screen his National Film Board production Strange Invaders, up for this year’s best animated short film Academy Award.

Opening the Movie Central Panorama, which showcased a dozen Canadian features, was the world premiere of director Guy Maddin’s Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary two nights before its initial CBC broadcast. The experimental film is an adaptation of a show performed by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company. The Independent Film Channel sponsored the fest’s presentation of 40 short films screened over the course of four days.

The festival featured a discussion between filmmaker Atom Egoyan and The Toronto Star’s Geoff Pevere as well as a screening of The Sweet Hereafter, voted the best Canadian film of the last 15 years by Playback readers. Other luncheon guests included Telefilm Canada chair Charles Belanger and NFB chair Jacques Bensimon. The fest closed with a presentation of Men with Brooms, Serendipity Point Films’ soon-to-be-released curling comedy. Stars Paul Gross and Leslie Nielsen participated in a promotional curling match with local pros.

The NSI’s 2002 Drama Prize recipients were also announced. The awards grant young Canadian producers $40,000 towards a short to be screened at the following year’s event. This year’s winners are: Dermott’s Quest, written and produced by Grant Suave and directed by Gim Ardel; The Recital, written and directed by Billy Morton and produced by Mike Fly Fleischhaker; Developments, written and directed by Matthew Sinclair and produced by Allison Laing; Second Coming in the Second Grade, written and directed by Smita Acharyya and produced by Rita Acharyya; and Hitting Zero, written and directed by Darlene Lim and produced by John Nadalin.

-www.nsi-canada.ca/filmexchange