The Atlantic Film Festival is gearing up for its 23rd edition, running Sept. 12-20 in Halifax, and this year its coproduction program, Strategic Partners, will focus on production opportunities between Canada and the U.S., U.K. and Republic of Ireland.

Now in its sixth year, Strategic Partners runs Sept. 13 to 15. Last year’s event, which spotlighted Australia and New Zealand, sold out.

-www.atlanticfilm.com

What the Dickens is going on in Venice?

TORONTO filmmaker Jacob Tierney’s feature debut Twist, a morose retelling of Dickens’ Oliver Twist, has been invited to Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival, which runs Aug. 27 to Sept. 6. It is one of only eight films to be selected and the only film from North America to make the cut this year.

The film, which is set in Toronto, stars Nick Stahl and Gary Farmer in the roles of The Artful Dodger (known in Twist as Dodge) and Fagin, respectively.

Twist, produced by Victorious Films in association with Dandelion Entertainment, was also one of 19 features selected for the Toronto International Film Festival’s Perspective Canada showcase in September.

-www.labiennale.org/en/cinema

SAFO receives record number of entries

There is a little more good news for the Ottawa International Animation Festival, but this time it has nothing to do with Telefilm Canada and everything to do with the number of entries it has received for its 2003 Ottawa International Student Animation Festival. According to Chris Robinson, artistic director of the financially troubled fest, this year’s SAFO has attracted a record 1,200 entries from some 50 countries, up from around 800 for the last SAFO in 2001.

The entries have been whittled down to 142 films – 70 will compete for seven awards, while 72 others will be shown as ‘Panorama’ screenings.

-www.awn.com/ottawa

A Nickel for Histoire de Pen

The Nickel Independent Film and Video Festival, held July 16 to 19 in St. John’s, NF, wrapped with an awards ceremony, where 16 awards were presented.

Histoire de Pen from director Michel Jette won the best feature film award, while Alex Vizsmeg’s Invisible Odyssey took the best documentary and best editing (Derek Sharplin) prizes. The best story/screenplay award went to writers Seth W. Owen, Daniel Perlmutter and Mark Slutsky for Spanked: The Ron Friendly Story, which also picked up the best short film award. The best Newfoundland short film honor went to Cold Turkey from filmmaker Ed Tanasychuk. The film also picked up the best actor award for Jon Whalen. Mystery Blue’s Geraldine Hollett won best actress honors; best art direction went to Lyne Wagner for Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl; Tony Butt won the best sound award for his work on The Future was Yesterday; and Lori Clarke won best musical score for Anatomist in Situ.

Adam Dwyer won best directing honors for Do Not Open, while the best cinematography nod went to Stuart Shiktani for Lindy and the Caterpillar. How to Cope with Death by Ignacio Ferreras won the best animated film award and Sumo won best music video for director Jon Vatcher. Bill Coultas took home the people’s choice award for Joined at the Heart.

Next year’s Nickel Fest will take place Aug. 4 to 7.

-www.nickelfestival.com

Moving Pictures announces opener

Firebird, from Rhombus Media director Barbara Willis Sweete and featuring several dancers from the National Ballet of Canada, will open the 12th annual Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film and Video. The screening will also be the film’s Toronto premiere.

This year’s Moving Pictures will also feature a program called Jazz Dance that will feature jazz-themed films and live jazz performances. Programmers have also put together a special dance-related program for children, which will have free screenings.

The festival runs (or dances) Oct. 23 to 26 in Toronto.

-www.movingpicturesfestival.com

Mehta, Greyson, Madden donate to TIFF library

Toronto International Film Festival-featured filmmakers Deepa Mehta, John Greyson and Guy Maddin have donated their collections of scripts, film elements, production files and other assorted goodies from their work to the festival-run Film Reference Library in Toronto, as part of the Special Collections archive.

The library, which preserves several thousands of pieces of film materials and reportedly has more than 1,000 scripts, also recently acquired the collection of noted celebrity interviewer Brian Linehan.

To add to all the activity, the library recently launched its website, www.filmreferencelibrary.ca, which provides online access to a number of interesting reads, including the new Canadian Film Encyclopedia. The authors of the encyclopedia already have close to 200 titles, biographical and subject entries, and promise 200 to 300 new entries to follow each year.

-www.e.bell.ca/filmfest