In Brief: Ariel Nasr wins 2024 TIFF-CBC Films Screenwriter Award

Plus: Vancouver Film School has launched a virtual production course with Pixomondo, and Reel Asian names the 2024 Fire Horse Award recipient.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has named documentary filmmaker and producer Ariel Nasr as the recipient of the $15,000 TIFF-CBC Films Screenwriter Award.

Nasr won the prize for the script Daudistan, his first narrative feature screenplay, which “thoughtfully examines how hope can be both essential and dangerous,” according to a news release. The award comes with access to a script consultant and a pass to this year’s Toronto International film Festival and industry conference, in addition to the cash prize.

His credits include the 2019 documentary Forbidden Reel and 2011’s The Boxing Girls of Kabul. Nasr was nominated for an Oscar in 2013 as producer of the short live action film Buzkashi Boys. He is also a producer at the National Film Board of Canada.

Vancouver Film School partners with Pixomondo on virtual production course

The Vancouver Film School (VFS) has partnered with VFX and virtual production company Pixomondo (PXO) to launch a 12-week microcredential course to teach the fundamentals of virtual production.

The course is titled Virtual Production: Virtual Art Department Content Creation and was developed by PXO’s VP Academy and is also offered through Seneca Polytechnic. Offered online-only, the course is tailored to instruct students on the requirements of working in a virtual production environment. It is taught by professionals with hands-on experience in virtual production.

Paul Wong wins Reel Asian’s 2024 Fire Horse Award

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian) has named interdisciplinary artist Paul Wong as its 2024 Fire Horse Award recipient.

The award was created in 2021 to honour an Asian Canadian in the arts sector that has made an extraordinary contribution to the film and media arts community. It will be presented to Wong on May 23 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Toronto and comes with a $25,000 cash prize.

Wong is being honoured for his decades of work as a visual artist, creating public art installations in various media forms. He won Reel Asian’s Best Canadian Film or Video award in 2008 for his short film Perfect Days.

Image courtesy of TIFF