Ousmane (GoodNeighbours Productions; pictured) directed by Jorge Camarotti was among the Canadian titles honoured at this year’s Aspen Shortsfest. The story of a newly arrived Burkinabé immigrant who becomes the caregiver for an elderly woman in Montreal won the $2,500 Best Drama jury award, which is an Oscar-qualifying category.

Zacharias Kunuk’s Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice (Kingulliit Productions, Taqqut Productions), which recently won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Animated Short, got a special mention from the Aspen Shortsfest jury in the animation category. Also getting a special mention, in the documentary category, was Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden’s Nuisance Bear, produced by Weisman.

This year’s jury included film and animation consultant Michael Fukushima, who has produced or coproduced over 200 works, including several Oscar nominations during his 26 years at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

A total of 11 Canadian titles screened at the Aspen Shortsfest, with others including: Tyler Evans’ I Live Here, produced by 2021 Playback 10 to Watch honouree Malachi Ellis, and executive produced by Shant Joshi and Lindsay Blair Goeldner at Fae Pictures; Belle River (Kinomada) by Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau, and Yannick Nolin; and Boobs, written, directed and produced by Marie Valade.

The list is rounded out by: Cat and Moth, written and directed by India Barnardo, and produced by Emily Shinyi Hsu and Sarah Dacey; Fanmi, directed by Carmine Pierre-Dufour, Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers and produced by François Bonneau (By-Pass Films); the NFB’s Canadian Screen Award-winning Nalujuk Night by Jennie Williams; the NFB’s Saturday Night by Rosana Matecki; and the acclaimed Together, directed, written and produced by Albert Shin.

imagineNATIVE goes hybrid

The 23rd annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival says it will offer an “expanded hybrid presentation” in October. In-person screenings and events will unfold in Toronto/Tkaronto from Oct. 18 to 23, followed by an online presentation of the Indigenous-focused festival from Oct. 24 to 30.

Programming and ticket details will be announced in the coming months.

A Cut Above gets camera-ready

Discovery original series A Cut Above, produced by Toronto’s marblemedia, is set to go into production in Squamish, B.C., this spring with Adam Beach (The Power of the Dog, Monkey Beach) selected as host. The 12-episode reality competition series follows skilled chainsaw carvers as they race against one another to create wooden works of art in various challenges.

Canadian chainsaw carver Ryan Cook and U.K. carver Katharine Dowson serve as judges for the inaugural season. A Cut Above was first announced as part of Bell Media’s June upfront presentation in 2021 and comes from the producers of reality competition series Blown Away and Race Against the Tide. It is expected to premiere later this year.

CCE Awards honour Vallée

The late Quebec filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée, who died in December, will be honoured with a posthumous Career Achievement Award at next month’s Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE) Awards in Toronto.

Feature film editor Ron Sanders, who began his career in Toronto in the mid-1970s, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 12th annual event. A full list of CCE Award nominees for the May 26 awards show — the organization’s first in-person event since 2019 — will be announced on April 18.

AMI’s By Hook or By Cook wraps

Season two of AMI original series By Hook or By Cook has recently wrapped production. The unscripted series is produced by Kelowna, B.C.’s Render Digital Media. It follows Nitro Circus freestyle motocross rider Bruce Cook as he finds innovative ways to make outdoor activities more accessible to people with disabilities. Cook has a disability himself after becoming paralyzed while attempting a motocross stunt. Season two, which follows Cook as he makes a remote lake lodge more accessible, is expected to air in June.

With files from Kelly Townsend