Projects from Conquering Lion Pictures, Hungry Eyes Media and Fae Pictures are among the 19 scripted and documentary titles selected for the Canada Media Fund’s Pilot Program for Racialized Communities.
The funder has invested $10.7 million toward production across 12 English-language screen projects and seven French-language under the program, which was established in 2021 to support prodcos majority-owned by racialized individuals.
Season four of Nova Scotia-shot CBC drama Diggstown (Circle Blue Entertainment, Freddie Films) is among the English projects to receive $750,000, which also includes Toronto-based Hungry Eyes Media’s drama feature 40 Acres; Conquering Lion Pictures’ scripted series Half-Blood Blues; Saskatchewan’s Karma Films project My Big Indian Family; and Nova Scotia drama Me, My Mom and Sharmila.
The French projects to pick up $750,000 include two Montreal-based titles, Zama Productions’ Premier Round and Les Productions Jumelage’s scripted series Lakay Nou, and Toronto-based Sahkosh Productions’ Hotel Beyrouth.
Rounding out the selected English-language projects are Fae Pictures’ Queen Tut ($363,010); Fathom Film Group’s unscripted project Around the World in 300 Days ($550,000); Lopii Productions’ children’s and youth series Bestest Day Ever With My Best Friend! ($550,000); Oya Media Group’s docuseries Black Community Mixtapes ($500,000); Vancouver-based Adhel Productions Katiba Banat – Sisters in Arms ($400,000); Ngozika Productions’ recently broadcast CBC special FreeUp! Emancipation Day 2022 ($170,000); and Montreal’s Pimiento Medias with Dreaming Without a Ceiling (Rêver sans plafond) ($92,500).
Pimiento Medias also secured funding for its French-language project L’Animal et le maître ($195,285). The remain French titles include Productions Ocho’s Kitsch QC ($550,000); Inaru Films’ scripted drama Les météorites ($440,960); and Productions colorées’ La Révélation ($148,245).
The production funding decisions were determined by a jury, which included Tonya Williams, Juan Baquero, Ravida Din, Selin Murat, Mara Gourd-Mercado and Aonan Yang for English-language projects. The jury members who evaluated were Carla Beauvais, Larissa Christoforo, Feven Ghebremariam and Jaime Alberto Tobon.
Image courtesy of CBC