A ctor and musician Gary Farmer will receive the 2022 August Schellenberg Award of Excellence at next month’s imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

The annual prize “recognizes significant professional and personal achievement by an Indigenous actor, of any gender, from Turtle Island,” according to a news release. It’s supported by ACTRA National, a donation from Joan Karasevich Schellenberg, and individual donors. Farmer will receive the honour on Oct. 22 at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.

The performer (pictured; Spirit Bay, The Rez, Dead Man, Reservation Dogs) is the founding director of the Aboriginal Voices Radio Network and has a screen career spanning more than four decades. He was born in Ohsweken, Ont., into the Cayuga Nation and the Wolf Clan of the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Confederacy.

About Anthony wraps production

The comedy-drama About Anthony, produced by ComediHa! in collaboration with Quebecor Content, has wrapped its 34-day shoot in Quebec City. The original 10 x 30-minute series, written by Cathleen Rouleau and directed by Daniel Grou (a.k.a. Podz), is set to launch in 2023 on Club Illico.

Rouleau used her own life as inspiration for the story, which centres on a child with multiple disabilities. She also stars alongside her real-life stepchild, Antoine Parent-Bédard, and Claude Legault, among others. The show was made with support and collaboration from AMI-télé, Canada Media Fund and the city of Quebec.

French film studio Gaumont acquired the show format for adaptation in March and discussions are now underway with companies in the U.K., the U.S., Brazil and Germany, according to a news release. The show’s team also plans to take the series to MIPCOM in Cannes next month.

WIFF gets boost from federal government

The Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) has received $500,000 in funding through the government of Canada’s Tourism Relief Fund. The funding is intended “to provide opportunities for organizations to facilitate future growth, allow for job creation, and support projects in the downtown core,” according to a news release.

WIFF plans to use the funding to immediately hire three full-time staff and expand programming. The 2022 festival will run Oct. 27 to Nov. 6 and open with Empire of Light, directed by Sam Mendes, and close with Maïmouna Doucouré’s Hawa.

Other films announced this week for the lineup include Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On by Madison Thomas, which got a special mention in the Amplify Voices Award category at the Toronto International Film Festival. The full lineup will be revealed on Oct. 6. WIFF recently bumped up its Prize in Canadian Film amount from $10,000 to $25,000.

CISF gets approved as a CIPF by CRTC

The Canadian Independent Screen Fund for BPOC creators (CISF) has received approval as a Certified Independent Production Fund (CIPF). The approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission was announced Thursday (Sept. 29) in a news release.

The approval means the fund is now eligible to receive contributions from broadcast distribution undertakings towards building a sustainable fund to support Canadian programming content. The CIPF is billed as the only one of its kind with a mandate focusing on supporting Black and people of colour creators.

CISF is not only “concerned with who is making the decisions about which projects get funded, but also about who is in control of designing those programs, how are they being delivered to our communities, and what kind of service and follow-through is taking place at every stage to ensure that BPOC storytellers and production companies are set up for long-term success in an incredibly tough industry where so many invisible barriers continue to be in place for creators who are Black and racialized,” said Sally Lee, CISF executive director, in a statement.

“I look forward to working with broadcasters – and especially with C-11 on the horizon – other distribution and viewing platforms, to ensure that the content Canadian and global viewers alike enjoy on their screens authentically reflects the full spectrum of stories coming from one of the most racially diverse countries in the world.”