Here is a summary of various news items to come Playback‘s way in recent days.

Midnight’s Children indie triumph

Deepa Mehta’s theatrical feature Midnight’s Children notched the highest per-screen average of any independent film in North America the weekend of Nov. 3 and 4.

According to those involved with the film’s rollout, it attained the feat after opening Nov. 2 on nine screens (five in Toronto, three in Vancouver and one in Halifax) and grossed $90,000, for a $10,000 per-screen average.

The film opens Friday in other major cities, including St. John’s, Montreal, Ottawa, London, Waterloo, Kingston, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary and Victoria.

Based on Salman Rushdie’s acclaimed novel, the movie has been sold to over 50 countries, with theatrical releases set for India at the end of December and in the U.S. at the beginning of April.

It’s the fourth film by Mehta and producer David Hamilton distributed by Mongrel Media.

Season premieres

The premiere episode of season two of YTV’s Zoink’d!, produced by recently formed indie prodco Pivotal Media, will air Nov. 17. Hosted by comedian Adam Christie, it features adults performing weird and wacky stunts in an attempt to impress a panel of kid judges in a bid to win the crown of ZoinkMaster Champion and avoid being sent home covered in goo. They also vie for a $1,000 grand prize.

Former Corus Entertainment execs Andrea Gabourie and Simon Watts officially launched Pivotal Media in October.

Meanwhile, Calgary-based Pyramid Productions’ six-part natural history program Wild Obsession will premiere on Animal Planet Canada on Dec. 10. The program focuses on the stories of individuals who pursue life-long dreams to come face-to-face with exotic and elusive animals, including wild wolves in Alberta, tigers in Arizona, and whales in British Columbia.

The entire series will also be broadcast as a Christmas Eve marathon on Dec. 24.

As well, Brandy Y Productions’ has announced that its documentary Nature’s Invitation has been picked up by the CBC’s Documentary Channel and will air in 2013, a national airing that will follow its Alberta premiere on OMNI Television on Dec. 2.

The Edmonton-based company’s founder and executive producer Brandy Yanchyk will travel to promote the film in Finland and China where it has been chosen for The Wildlife Vaasa International Nature Film Festival and the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival respectively.

Another of the company’s documentaries, Brooks: the City of 100 Hellos, has been picked up by CTS Television and also public television stations across the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Awards

Canadian ad director-turned-dramatic-filmmaker Allan Wylie’s debut short film, The Charon Incident (pictured, right), has won the top prize in its very first festival entry. It napped the best of the fest award at the Route 66 International Film Festival in Springfield, Il. Held last weekend.

Retransmission fracas

A coalition of U.S. TV stations in areas that border Canada launched a lobbying campaign Thursday to fight what they say is the unfair treatment their channels receive as a result of recent amendments to Canada’s broadcast rules.

“It is regrettable that imported U.S. TV stations are denied consent and remuneration rights under Canada’s new distant station retransmission regime,” says Marla Drutz, VP and GM of WDIV-TV in Detroit, in a statement released by the U.S. Television Coalition.

The Broadcasting Distribution Regulations were amended in 2011 providing retransmission consent and new remuneration rights for operators of distant TV stations. The coalition argues that, as a result of these rules, its members have a right to be remunerated for carriage of their signals in Canada.