WINNIPEG — The National Screen Institute – Canada is launching a $2,500-per-year filmmaking bursary in honor of distributor and NSI team member Jim Murphy, who passed away last year.

The Jim Murphy Filmmakers Bursary will provide funding to a team going through the Winnipeg-based school’s Features First program, and is earmarked towards publicity and promotion of a film project.

‘Jim had a real knack for marketing and publicity,’ says Brendon Sawatzky, program manager of Features First, which annually provides training opportunities to help five filmmaking teams work through the development process on a first or second film. ‘He really enjoyed all the ways you can enhance the overall package of a film, so this bursary is a way to honor his legacy. As well, Jim was a real cinephile, had an encyclopedic knowledge of film and was a big supporter of Canadian cinema.’

Murphy, who passed away in April 2007 at the age of 59 after ongoing health problems, served as program manager for Features First from 2003 up until his death. He was a highly respected member of the film community and spent 35 years working in feature film distribution at some of the country’s key companies, including Bellevue Films, Astral Films, Malofilm, Motion International and TVA Films.

Murphy was involved in the acquisition and marketing of hundreds of international and Canadian productions, including Dead Ringers (1988), Margaret’s Museum (1995), Better than Chocolate (1999), The Art of War (2000) and Ginger Snaps (2000). He was also the prime Canadian booker and promoter of the 1975 cult classic and box office hit The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Murphy was a founding member of the Toronto Filmmakers’ Co-Op and, in the ’70s, worked at and later became a board member of the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre, where he actively promoted experimental works.

When NSI makes its annual call for submissions to the Features First program in mid-July, applicants will submit a promotions and publicity proposal for their film project. Of the five teams chosen to participate in the program, one group will be awarded the bursary.

‘We are looking for a marketing plan that is innovative and original and specific to the project the team is planning to develop through Features First,’ explains Sawatzky. ‘The bursary money will go towards starting to build the marketing and promotion of the film as early as the development phase.’

The NSI has set a $25,000 fundraising goal to keep the bursary running for an initial 10 years. A committee, made up of NSI staff and two of Murphy’s longtime friends, Dan Lyon of Telefilm Canada and Jane Gutteridge of the National Film Board, has raised more than $15,000 so far from among Murphy’s many colleagues and friends. The NSI has kicked in $4,000.