Penticton, B.C.-based filmmaker Dolly Kruger has been named as the recipient of the $10,000 RBC Emerging Indigenous Filmmaker Award.

The award, facilitated by the National Screen Institute and funded by the RBC Foundation, supports current or future projects of emerging Indigenous filmmakers or career goals.

Kruger, a member of Sn’pintktn Indian Band, will also receive mentorship from Swampy Cree filmmaker and award advisor Sonya Ballantyne.

Kruger (pictured) was selected based on her short film project on stickgames that are traditional to many Indigenous communities. The project is currently in the works with Kruger aiming for a festival run in B.C., Alberta and the U.S.

The award received more than 70 applications from emerging Indigenous creators from across the country.

SODEC selects five short, one digital project for production funding

The Société de développement des entreprises culturelle (SODEC) has selected five short films and one short-format digital project for support through its production assistance program.

The projects include three fiction shorts, one documentary and one narrative digital project.

The three fiction titles are Converti (Tapis Rouge Films), written and directed by Julien Boisvert, with Paraloeil attached as distributor; Dormance (Le Foyer Films), co-written and co-directed by Alexa-Jeanne Dubé and Fanny Migneault-Lecavalier, with H264 distributing; and writer-director Marie-Noëlle Moreau Robidas’ Le chant des nuages (Vlimeuses Productions), distributed by Travelling.

The doc projects include writer-director Cyrielle Deschaud’s La grande pédalée (Les Films Extérieur Jour), which is distributed by Les Films du 3 Mars; and writer-director Mitchell Stafiej’s English-language title Sto Lat (Type 1 Films).

The sole digital project is writer-director Phoebe Greenberg’s copro Blur, which is produced by Quebec-based Phi Studio and Taiwan’s Riverbed Theatre. Phi Studio is the distributor.

SJIWFF launches screening tour

The St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (SJIWFF) has launched a provincial screening tour which will bring short films from their recent festival to communities across Newfoundland and Labrador throughout summer.

For the Films on the Go (FOTG) tour, SJIWFF pays the artist fees and sends the films to not-for-profit organizations, community groups, and businesses who want to host a community screening, free of cost, according to a news release.

FOTG kicks off on June 5 at the art gallery and museum, The Rooms, in St. John’s.

The shorts lineup for this year’s program includes films by Brianna Russell, Mallory Clarke, Nicola Hawkins, Holly Andersen, Heather Campbell, and Stacy Gardner.

Canadian Sync Awards nominees revealed

The Guild of Music Supervisors, Canada (GMSC) has announced the nominees for 2024 Canadian Sync Awards, with music supervisors Heather Gardner and Telan Wong of Vapor Music/Long Division picking up the most nods.

The awards, which honour the craft of music supervision in filmed media in Canada, will take place at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto on June 3.

Gardner and Wong have been nominated for Best Sync – Soundtrack, Feature Film or Documentary Film, and Best Sync – Scene, Feature Film or Documentary Film for Suze (Wildling Pictures, Thirty-one Sixty Pictures); Best Sync – Soundtrack, Episodic Series (Drama) for Robyn Hood (season one; Boat Rocker); Best Sync – Scene, Episodic Series with Gavin Alexander for Robyn Hood (Ep. 101); and Best Sync – Soundtrack, Short Film or Short Form Episodic Series for I Hate People, People Hate Me (LoCo Motion Pictures).

Gardner was also nominated for Best Sync – Soundtrack, TV Movie for A Scottish Love Scheme (BRB Pictures), while Wong picked up a nomination in the commercial/advertisement category.

Also vying in the Best Sync – Soundtrack, Feature Film or Documentary Film category are Natasha Duprey for A Nice Indian Boy; Dondrea Erauw for North of Normal and Everton Lewis, Jr. for Thanksgiving.

Nominees in the Best Sync – Soundtrack, Episodic Series (Drama) category include Michael Perlmutter for Fellow Travelers (season one); Andrea Higgins for Heartland (season 17; Dynamo Films and SEVEN24 Films); and Duprey for My Life With The Walter Boys (season one).

Additional nominees for Best Sync – Soundtrack, Episodic Series (Comedy) are Mikaila Simmons for Davey and Jonesie’s Locker (season one; marblemedia); Kyle Merkley for The Lake (season two; Amaze); and Higgins for The Trades (season one; Trailer Park Boys, Kontent House).

The full list of nominees is available here.

Image courtesy of National Screen Institute