Eggplant Pictures partners with Mach Sound Studios

Toronto-based video production service company Eggplant Pictures and Mach Sound Studios have combined to form Eggplant Pictures & Sound. The companies have shared the same office space and collaborated on projects for the past four years and are now uniting to provide end-to-end production and post-production services. In a release, Dave Conlon, CFO of Eggplant, said the new partnership will allow clients to benefit from an integrated workflow from the beginning of production to delivery. Bruce Fleming, owner of Mach since 2013, becomes partner and audio lead. Dan Wong remains managing director and Paul Moyer is executive producer.

Ontario increases funding to the Ontario Arts Council 

The Ontario government is committing $50 million in additional funding to the Ontario Arts Council, the government announced Aug. 29. The OAC provides and grants and services to Ontario artists and arts organizations. The funds will be distributed over the next four years, increasing provincial funding to the OAC to $80 million annually by 2020/21. One of the organizations set to receive a share of the increaed funding is the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.

VIFF adds Maddin special screening 

The Vancouver International Film Festival has added a special screening and live score of Winnipeg-based Guy Maddin’s latest The Green Fog: A San Francisco Fantasia. The film, a collaboration with Evan and Galen Johnson (The Forbidden Room), is described as a “parallel-universe version” of Alfred Hitchcok’s Vertigo. The Green Fog special VIFF LIVE presentation will take place at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts on Oct. 10 and will feature a live score by San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet. The festival also announced its Music/Art/Design programming lineup, which includes Raymond St. Jean’s Louise Lecavalier in Motion and the Ireland/Canada copro Song of Granite, from director Pat Collins.