Telefilm Canada has selected 16 narrative and documentary features for its relaunched Talent to Watch program for the 2022/23 fiscal year.

A total of $3.5 million will be invested across the films via Telefilm’s Talent Fund. The program was updated and relaunched in spring with several changes. Among them are an increase in funding to $250,000 for narrative films – up from the previous $150,000 – and up to $150,000 for documentaries. Telefilm also introduced a direct application stream for underrepresented filmmakers in addition to the industry partner and festival selection streams.

Half of the selected projects were chosen through the industry partner stream, in which filmmakers submit projects to designated Telefilm partners to recommend to Talent to Watch.

The films include Reza Dahya’s Ontario drama Boxcutter, written by Chris Cromie, directed and produced by Dahya alongside producer Soko Negash, and submitted by the Prism Prize; and Darcy Waite’s Manitoba comedy Lucky Strikes, produced by Playback’s 5 to Watch alum Madison Thomas, written and directed by Waite, and submitted by On Screen Manitoba.

Two dramas selected under the stream are Arianna Martinez’s New Brunswick feature Do I Know You From Somewhere?, co-written and directed by Martinez, co-written and produced by Gordon Mihan alongside producer Lance Blakney, and submitted by the New Brunswick Film Co-Operative; and Meelad Moaphi’s Ontario-based English and Farsi film His Father’s Son, written and directed by Moaphi, produced by Stephen Raglow and Spencer Hahn, and submitted by York University.

Two French-language Quebec features picked in the stream are David Sanchez’s documentary L’asile, written and directed by Sanchez, produced by François Dubé, and submitted by SPIRA; and Laetitia Demessence’s horror film Chemins de terre, written and directed by Demessence, produced by Yann-Manuel Hernandez and submitted by the Université de Montréal.

Rounding out the industry stream selections are Kunsang Kyirong’s Tibetan- and English-language B.C. mystery film 100 Sunset, written and directed by Kyirong, produced by Joaquin Cardoner, and submitted by the Vancouver International Film Festival; and Rolla Tahir’s English- and Arabic-language Ontario-based magic realism feature Jude and the Jinn, written and directed by Tahir, produced by Mercedes Cardella and Ladan Siad, and submitted by the Reelworld Film Festival.

Another seven films were selected via the filmmaker-direct stream, including three dramas, Mahsa Razavi’s English- and Persian-language The River Will Carry Us, written and directed by Razavi and produced by Priscilla Galvez and Tanya Hoshi; Natalie Remplakowski and Aisha Evelyna’s Ontario film Seahorse, written by Evelyna and co-directed and produced by Remplakowski and Evelyna; and Elisa Gilmour’s French-language Ontario feature Tandis que lui, written and directed by Gilmour, and produced by Daiva Žalnieriunas.

Rounding out the stream selections are four documentaries: Nadine Valcin’s French-language Ontario doc Johanne, written and directed by Valcin, and produced by Playback‘s 2022 10 to Watch alum Josiane Blanc and Ania Jamila; Habibata Ouarme’s French- and English-language Ontario doc 1001 couronnes pour ma tête, written, directed and produced by Ouarme; Lea Marinova’s English- and Bulgarian-language Quebec feature Agent Dynamo, written and directed by Marinova and produced by Svetla Turnin; and Ryan Sidhoo’s English- and Bosnian-language B.C. doc The Track, written, directed and produced by Sidhoo.

Finally, one drama was selected under the festival selection stream, which allows an emerging filmmaker to submit directly if they have previously been selected at an eligible film festival. The feature is Omar Elhamy’s Arabic-language Quebec drama The Firehouse, written and directed by Elhamy and produced by Jonathan Beaulieu-Cyr.

The 2022/23 cohort will also receive access to a mentorship program administered by the National Screen Institute and the Institut national de l’image et du son. Participation in the program, which covers the filmmaking cycle from pre-production to distribution, is a condition of funding, according to Telefilm’s program guidelines.

Francesca Accinelli, Telefilm’s interim executive director and CEO, pointed to the success of the program in a statement, noting that former Talent to Watch recipients Blanc and Žalnieriunas are now “paying it forward” as producers. She also highlighted 100 Sunset and The Firehouse as the first Talent to Watch projects that include Tibetan and Arabic languages, respectively. “With significant changes made to our program, we can expect more diverse voices coming in our pipeline and making their mark in the Canadian audiovisual landscape,” she said.

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