The first week of June has been ripe with industry news, no doubt because of next week’s Banff World Media Festival. See you at the Springs!

Distribution

Toronto-based distributor Kaleidoscope Entertainment has licensed 20 Canadian-made films to Shaw Media. The movies, from several production sources across the country, are a mix of thrillers, romantic comedies, sci-fi, drama and ‘holiday’ family fare, Kaleidoscope said when announcing the pact earlier this week. The titles include Sight Unseen, directed by David Golden, Web of Desire, directed by Mark Cole, Secret lives of Second Wives, directed by George Mendeluk, I’ll Be Seeing You, directed by Will Dixon and Cradle Will Fall (pictured), directed by Rob W. King.

Film production

Josh Duhamel, whose credits include Transformers and Safe Haven, has joined the cast of Strings, an independent drama the production on which is to start in Winnipeg on Sunday. As reported by Playback earlier this week, the film is being made by Los Angeles-based Strings of Films LLC.

Service work

U.S. TV series Hannibal, which is lensed in Toronto, has been renewed for a second season by NBC Universal. The horror-thriller, a spin-off of the Thomas Harris novel Red Dragon that was developed for television by Bryan Fuller, is produced by Gaumont International Television in association with Sony Pictures Television Networks, along with the Dino De Laurentiis Company and Living Dead Guy Productions.

Doc funding

The Canada Media Fund says it has released an English version of a new resource for the financing of factual entertainment content. Produced by the Observatoire du documentaire and Antenne Media Grand Sud, the Additional Funding Guide for Documentary Film includes information on sources of funding available to the documentary industry in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, including private and broadcaster funds, institutions, hedge funds, awards, grants and crowdfunding platforms. The guide, the French version of which was released in the fall, is available here.

Awards

Toronto’s Inside Out LGBT Film Festival wrapped up with a closing night party and awards ceremony Monday June 3. Canadian-made films that took home prizes at the fest were: For Dorian, directed by Rodrigo Barriuso, which took the Best Canadian Film Award; Happy Birthday Chad!, directed by Jason Sharman, which took the Emerging Canadian Artist Award; and Honey Bunny, directed by Gabrielle Zilkha, which took both the Best Short Film Award and the Hot Shorts Award.