Vancouver: Peace Arch Entertainment, recently restructured and reinvented as a genre feature producer, is back in business with four feature films, with aggregate budgets of about $35 million, and a television series.

Through its newly acquired division GFT Entertainment and U.K.-based coproducer Studio Eight Productions, Vancouver-based Peace Arch is in production with The Keeper, a thriller starring Dennis Hopper and Asia Argeneto (XXX) and directed by Paul Lynch (The Magician’s House).

Production began March 22 in Victoria. International distribution will be handled by Peace Arch Films of London, another wholly owned division.

Belly of the Beast, a thriller starring Steven Seagal and directed by Tony Tung Yee Ching, is in production in Bangkok, while Avalanche, a thriller starring Andrew Lee Potts (Band of Brothers) and directed by Mark Roper (Adventure Inc.), is at work in Bulgaria as a Canada/U.K./Bulgaria coproduction.

Earthquake, a thriller directed by Tibor Takacs (Rats), began principal photography on April 7 in Lithuania.

Recently, GFT Entertainment delivered three other features: Crime Spree, a caper comedy starring Gerard Depardieu and Harvey Keitel and directed by Brad Mirman (Wanted); Absolon, a futuristic thriller starring Christopher Lambert and Lou Diamond Phillips; and, Partners in Action, an action thriller starring Armand Assante and directed by Sidney J. Furie (Just Cause).

Meanwhile, Peace Arch subsidiary The Eyes Multimedia Productions began production of its Life Network reality television series Campus Vets in Saskatchewan in February. The series follows a group of young veterinary students.

In the neighborhood

Vancouver filmmaker Harvey Kahn is executive producing Anymore, the second feature from his California-based Front Street Films fund.

Starring Naomi Watts (Mullholland Drive), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Mark Ruffalo (My Life Without Me) and Laura Dern (Wild at Heart), the $4-million Anymore is based on a story by Andre Dubus, who wrote the source material for the drama In the Bedroom. In fact, says Kahn, the script for Anymore (a working title) was written years ago (by Larry Gross, who wrote the screenplay for Prozac Nation) and sat on a shelf until In the Bedroom became a success and Dubus’ work attracted the interest of name actors looking for meaty stories and characters.

In this feature, directed by John Curran (Praise), two couples become dramatically intertwined and Vancouver poses as a college town.

With production wrapping mid-May, Kahn is hoping to have a cut ready for Sundance in January. No distributor is yet attached.

Water’s Edge, the first feature out of Kahn’s fund, has Lions Gate handling Canada and U.S. video and Curb Entertainment selling foreign.

Moved to direct

Busy Benjamin Ratner, who makes his agent lots of money for a B.C. actor, will star in Moving Malcolm, a script he wrote and will use as his directorial debut.

Thirty days of production began April 21 on the story about Gene (Ratner), who is asked by the woman who jilted him at the altar a year before to move her elderly father while she flies to Prague to act in a low-budget sci-fi flick. Motivated by fantasies of reconciliation with the woman, played by Showgirl’s Elizabeth Berkley, Gene takes on the chore, alarming his friends and family wary of the vixen’s ways.

The large ensemble cast also includes John Neville (Spider) as Malcolm and Babz Chula (Dirty), Jay Brazeau (A Guy Thing) and Rebecca Harker (Last Wedding) as Gene’s ’embarrassingly eccentric’ family. Nicholas Lea (The X-Files) appears as Gene’s most forceful ally and Linda Sorensen (Joshua Then and Now) plays Malcolm’s potential love interest. Tom Scholte (Last Wedding), Gina Chiarelli (See Grace Fly) and Earl Pastko (The Sweet Hereafter) have cameos.

Executive producers on the feature are Crescent Entertainment’s Jayme Pfahl and Christine Haebler (Kitchen Party, Hard Core Logo). Producers are Paul Armstrong (Mon amour mon parapluie, See Grace Fly) and Bridget Hill (Instant Soup). Greg Middleton is director of photography (Punch, Better Than Chocolate, Kissed) and the film’s editor is Ross Weber (Last Wedding, Dirty).

The production is funded by Telefilm Canada, British Columbia Film and the Canadian Western Independent Producers Fund in association with broadcasters Movie Central, The Movie Network and Citytv/CHUM Network. The film’s distributor is Mongrel Media.

Short deadline

The third annual Signature Shorts contest, sponsored by CBC and British Columbia Film, expects scripts from B.C. filmmakers by May 5.

The popular and successful competition, whose previous iterations on the themes of ‘smoked salmon’ and the specter of ’50’ have generated projects like Casanova at 50 (up for seven Leo Awards in May), this year takes on the theme of ‘redemption.’

‘Signature Shorts is a perfect opportunity for B.C. writers to put a fresh twist on an age-old topic,’ says Rae Hull, senior director of network programming and regional director in B.C. for CBC. ‘We want writers to stretch their imaginations for what I’m sure will be another inspiring competition.’

In June, 10 applicants will be short listed and given the opportunity to participate in an intensive pitching workshop. Up to three projects will be selected to go into production for future broadcast on CBC. Finalists will receive $16,000 in production financing and $30,000 in production facilities to bring their eight-minute screenplay to life.

The Alibi Unplugged Script Reading Series will assist with coordination of the competition. Other program sponsors for the 2003 competition include Finale Editworks, which will contribute post-production services, and Line 21, which will provide closed-captioning services.

Scaring up business

Mainframe Entertainment’s first one-hour primetime special Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktacular, based on the children’s books by Jill Thompson, will air on YTV Oct. 31. According to Mainframe, Godmother is the first full CGI television production utilizing Softimage XSI software.

The special is still looking for a U.S. pickup, says Mainframe CEO Rick Mischel, who is confident the series will ‘migrate’ to a television series or direct-to-video franchise.

Mainframe plans an extensive Halloween promotional push for the special, with tie-ins to Halloween retailers and candy makers.

To maintain the integrity of the original drawings, Thompson was the special’s art director.

Hot shots

Vancouver post house Artifex Studios recently created 250 visual effects for the feature film Firefight, executive produced by Roger Corman, directed and edited by Paul Ziller and starring Stephen Baldwin.

The project involved heavy compositing, including forest fires, central to the plot, debris, smoke and several shots of a CGI helicopter.

The story involves a race for stolen money during an outbreak of wildfires. According to Artifex, the film is set to debut at Cannes.

Reel dealer

The ‘production Svengali’ taking credit for launching the careers for filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, Baz Luhrmann and Steve Daldry, among others, will be in Vancouver May 10 and 11 for a workshop at UBC’s Continuing Studies Professional Film Arts Program.

Dov Simens, producer of films like Microwave Massacre and Blood Spa, will lead ‘The Two-Day Hollywood Film School’ for writers, producers, directors, actors and first-timers wanting to learn how to a) make the film and b) sell the movie.

The cost is $389. Information, (604) 822-0880.