After reviewing applications from across the country, the National Screen Institute (NSI) has selected four teams of students that will make up the second class of its Aboriginal Documentary training course.

Through the program, each two-person team – a producer and a director – receives training, mentorship and $16,000 in funding to produce a short documentary.

The program launched in 2012, but this is the first year teams from across Canada were eligible to apply. In its pilot year, the course was only open to Manitoba residents.

The course includes a two-week intensive bootcamp starting Jan. 19 in Winnipeg. Brendon Sawatzky of Winnipeg’s Inferno Pictures is the producer advisor, and Lisa Jackson is the director advisor of the program.

As part of the program, the teams will attend the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto. Their completed documentaries will air on APTN and will appear on the APTN website.

The NSI also announced last week a new partnership with the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Winners of the NSI Online Short Film festival over the next four submissions periods will get a free “friend” membership to the Academy.

“We are honoured that the Academy recognizes the talented filmmakers involved in the NSI Online Short Film Festival for the Canadian Screen Awards,” said NSI CEO John Gill in a release. “And to offer a significant reduction in membership rates to our students is a tangible welcome to the industry from the Academy.”

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